Thoughts and Speculations
by Big Paja
Summary: This is non-fiction and it will be a collection of my views on various intriguing phenomena from Narutoverse that are too long to be in my profile. Topics thus far covered: Hand Seals, Elements, Affinities, Manipulations, Rinnegan, Mangekyō Sharingan.
1. Hand Seals

**Pre-emptive Author's Rambling:**

**As I said in the summary, this is not really a work of fiction but a piece of non-fiction. Well, as much non-fiction as You can get in Naruto... This serves to merely vent my thoughts on some concepts from Naruto that I find particularly interesting and would like to share them with this community but think they are too long to be posted in my profile, which people are less likely to visit than this "story" anyway. Although I do plan to post about two more "chapters", beyond that I will update only if I decide that I have thought extensively enough about a concept to justify the posting.**

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Thoughts and Speculations One: Hand Seals

There are a few things I love about Naruto and the most obvious one for me is the concept of hand seals. You know them, those strange shapes You form with the fingers of both of Your hands that You have probably tried on Your own at least once in Your life if You are a Naruto fan. Do not feel ashamed by it, I tried to form a few as well! I have not yet tried to form a decent sequence to pretend I am casting a jutsu, though, because it is tough and requires practice I do not have time or longing for. The only jutsu I would be able to cast without being afraid of messing the seals would be Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. It cannot get any simpler than one seal that does not even intertwine the fingers. Now that I think about it, there is a possibility that there are probably videos of people "performing jutsus", maybe even the super difficult ones like Suiryūdan, masterfully on YouTube. I may check that later…

Well, back onto the subject. Hand seals, hand seals, yes. There are twelve basic hand seals: Ne – Rat, Ushi – Ox, Tora – Tiger, U – Hare, Tatsu – Dragon, Mi – Snake, Uma – Horse, Hitsuji – Ram, Saru – Monkey, Tori – Bird, Inu – Dog, I – Boar. I took this information from www dot Leafninja dot com – You might want to visit the site once in a while, if You feel unsure about some Naruto details. There are also slight variations of these zodiac seals, special seals, like the one for Kage Bunshin I mentioned or for Yamanaka clan techniques, and one-handed seals, as seen performed by Haku.

What are hand seals for? They basically help a shinobi to focus and mould chakra in a certain way that will allow for the desired jutsu to be performed. Note that the senseis never explain to their pupils how they should mould chakra to perform even the simplest of jutsus, like the Henge or the Bunshin; they only tell them what they should strive to form and show them the seals for it and occasionally tell them how much chakra they require. After that, practice makes perfect. Without the seals, any jutsu would be much more taxing on the focus factor and a ninja cannot afford that during battle. Speed is the key. If two identical foes face each other and one of them is better skilled in forming seals, that ninja will perform the jutsu first and win the battle. Well, that can be said about any aspect of being a ninja. Pit two clones against each other and give one a slight edge… Yeah…

Now, do You think the number of hand seals is high enough or too low? I think it is more than high enough, even if there were exclusively the twelve basic zodiac-inspired seals. I think it is more than anyone could handle. Let me explain myself. As I have never witnessed a jutsu being performed with two same seals following each other in a sequence, neither in canon nor in fillers, I presume that a different seal should always follow the one before it. I assume that once chakra is moulded into a certain shape determined by the seal, using that seal again would only prolong the presence of this shape, which would be no different from holding that one seal for a longer time. Let's say I want to perform a two-seal jutsu. How many alternatives do I have for the first seal? The answer is twelve, I can begin with whatever seal I please. How many alternatives do I have for the second seal? If my assumption that there cannot be two same seals in sequence is true, I have eleven possibilities, which is all but the one I have just used. If Your maths class has covered combinatorics, You already know that this gives You the total number of all possible two-seal combinations equal to 132 (12x11 equals 132). Holy hell! One hundred and thirty-two possible jutsus that require only two seals?!

Let me try to form a three-seal jutsu; those are either quite frequent or I am just not quick enough to realise that they are in fact longer. I have twelve options for the first seal and eleven options for the second. How many options do I have for the third one? Eleven, because it is twelve minus the one before it again. Let's see how much that is: 12x11x11 equals 1452!! Fourteen hundred and fifty-two possible jutsus performed by the usage of a mere three-seal sequence! Holy goddamn pit of hell!! I have never tried to count ALL jutsus performed in canon, fillers, films, OVAs and games but I suspect that the number of them most likely does not even get close to five hundred. Kakashi may be famed for knowing one thousand jutsus but even this number is still almost one and a half times that and I think the "one thousand" is just bragging to inspire uneasiness in opponents anyway.

The possibilities are literally limitless! Even if there was a restriction that one seal could be repeated only after all eleven other seals have been used in that jutsu sequence, there would still be no final limit to jutsus. If You are geeky enough, You can check Neoseeker forums for the topic "JUTSU HAND SEALS COMBOS COME AND SEE!!", find the sequence for Suiryūdan and see that its first seal, Ushi – Ox, appears again in the seventh position. If I established that as a rule, then the number of seven-seal jutsus would decrease but the total number of all possible combinations would still remain infinity. I do not have enough patience to check other jutsus to find the one with the soonest repetition and establish it as a rule but I do not need to because it will not change anything either.

However, to demonstrate the full impact the seal system had on me, I should present You with another restriction that does not exist in Narutoverse – the harshest possible restriction. Let me repeat that I still consider the twelve basic seals to be the only ones for this. Next, let's pretend that none of the seals can appear twice in a jutsu, which means that the longest possible sequence would be composed of twelve seals. It would also mean that there would be only ten options for the third seal, nine options for the fourth seal and so on to the only one possibility for the final seal. The twelve-seal jutsus would likely be the top-of-the-line, super-strong, mostly forbidden ones. Now, let me show You how many twelve-seal jutsus there would be: twelve factorial or mathematically 12! and that equals 12x11x10x9x8x7x6x5x4x3x2x1. If You think this transcription is too long and looks intimidating, then brace Yourselves for the result! The total, finite, number of twelve-seal jutsus is 479,001,600! More than four hundred million!! Do not forget that this is not the final total number of jutsus in this theoretical twelve-seal-max universe. To get that number, You would have to sum up the amounts of one-seal jutsus (12) and two-seal jutsus (132) and three-seal jutsus (here it would be 12x11x10 equals 1320) and so on. I will not bore You with the transcription of the whole sum and give You the number right now: 1,302,061,344. My super-restricted universe would have more than one billion and three hundred million jutsus to discover and learn.

Phew, okay. Let us take a break to absorb all of that, shall we! … Okay, I am back! Let's continue! I have already talked about the presumed impossibility of two same seals in sequence. As Kishimoto Masashi always remembers to put some downsides to the powers wielded by his characters (even Naruto and Sasuke have their limitations, just admit that it is true), I think there should be other catches to the seal system. Every seal, no matter if it is a standard zodiac one, a special one or a one-handed one moulds the chakra inside a shinobi's body in a unique way and that is what makes every seal sequence unique as well. However, one cannot dismiss the idea that SOME ways of moulding chakra would be completely ineffective and would just expend the chakra supplied. As the number of possible combinations rises drastically with each seal added, the logical conclusion would be that the percentage of ineffective ones would also rise drastically. But even if 95% of twelve-seal jutsus in my super-restricted universe were ineffective wastes of chakra, there would still be more than 23 million functional twelve-seal jutsus. That is still more than enough. Of course, in canon Narutoverse, where there is probably only the first restriction I presumed, no matter how many percent of jutsus You declare ineffective, the total number would remain infinity. How much is 50% of infinity? The answer is infinity. How much is 1% of infinity? The answer is infinity. How much is 0,000001% of infinity? The answer cannot be anything else but infinity. It is pointless to argue.

You probably got a headache reading this but imagine Orochimaru's infinitely greater splitting headache when he does the math! Master every jutsu in the world? Dream on, maniac!

Let's move onto another aspect of seals that I find intriguing. I have already mentioned that their function is to mould the chakra in a shinobi's body to allow him or her to cast a ninjutsu or a genjutsu (or a kinjutsu or a fūinjutsu, if You want to be precise and exhaustive). However, it is a known fact that skilled shinobis can achieve perfection through repetition and are able to reduce the number of seals they need for a jutsu or even do without them altogether. I did not check back to confirm it but Narutopedia (naruto dot wikia dot com) states that Nidaime Hokage Senju Tobirama was able to perform the Suiryūdan with only one seal instead of 44. Also, the Byakugan is activated through a seal sequence but Neji activated it without any seals during his battle with Naruto a few times. This is a testament to their skills and how much they know and understand their jutsus. They know exactly how to mould the chakra to the point that casting the jutsu without the seals is as natural to them as to a regular shinobi to cast it with a full sequence, if not easier.

This leads me to one of my ideas for a story that lie abandoned in the dusty corners of my brain because I do not have enough willpower and supplementary material to realise them. It would be a story of an OC (read my profile to find out just how exceptional this idea sounds coming from my keyboard) who would desperately suck at performing seal sequences correctly at a quick enough pace to survive out on the battlefield. That OC would inevitably have to turn to the only possible way to not have to give up the career of a shinobi, which would be to thoroughly research every jutsu he or she wants to learn and understand how to mould the chakra on his or her own. To make it a little more plausible, that shinobi would always use the one-handed chakra focusing gesture You saw Deidara make every time he detonated one of his artistic bombs. Thus, the initial debilitating limitation could turn into an advantage for that OC shinobi because as he or she would not be using any seals, the opponents (save for Hyūgas or Uchihas) would have no way of telling which jutsu is the OC casting and would have less time to react. It would also provide the OC with considerable knowledge of the workings of jutsus and potentially make him or her a good teacher in the future. If You know of an existing story that utilises this concept, let me know, or if You think this is an idea You could work with, let me know that You would like to write a story around it and I will give You my full support.

Another thing I would like to reflect on is the possibility of abstract concepts related to hand seals. It is merely a fan-speculation because it never appeared in the franchise. I got this idea from reading the fic "Legacy of the Rasengan I: Naruto" by Tellemicus Sundance and its companion "Clash in the Land of Snow: Legacy Version!" by FictionReader98. For example, Tora – Tiger being is used for Power or Saru – Monkey is being used for Speed. The notes from Leafninja and Narutopedia also mention that Tora – Tiger frequently appears in Katon and Suiton jutsus, that Mi – Snake is frequently used in Doton and Mokuton jutsus and that Ne – Rat is characteristic of the Nara clan jutsus. To me, it seems very plausible that different seals, which are different moulds for chakra, would yield different results. It could easily be implemented into my story idea – once the OC decides to help his or her fellow shinobi with a jutsu problem, he or she would be better equipped to explain both the problem and the solution. This idea would once again limit the possibilities of combining seals to achieve palpable and useful results but, again, eventually do nothing to erase the infinity.

I think this is all I have to say on the subject of hand seals. I hope I did not bore You to death. In fact, I hope I have made You think about this in a new way and showed You that it is worthy of Your appreciation. The concept seems very simple at first glance and it indeed is but You know what they say: "There is beauty in simplicity". And not only that – some of the most genius things are surprisingly simple in their core. I daresay that the hand seal system in Naruto is one of them.

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**Author's Last Words:**

**Now that my ranting is over, You probably expect me to tell You to review. Well, I am not going to do that because, again, this is not fiction and, frankly, does not need reviewing because there is no way to develop it. It is as it is and it will stay like this, unless I decide to amend it in some way. However, if You want to react to my text or ask me some questions about something I may have omitted, You are free to do so by sending me a PM or an e-mail, which is a more direct way.**

**Stay on the safe side!**


	2. Elements

**Inbound Message:**

**I originally thought that this one would be shorter than the chapter on hand seals because the matter of Elements does not intrigue me as much but striving to give an exhaustive account of my opinions made it longer than expected.**

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Thoughts and Speculations Two: Elements

Today, I would like to tell You something about (surprise, surprise!) the various Elements. This concept was introduced very early on in the franchise. In the "Introduction" arc, jutsus of two elements were used; in the "Land of Waves" arc, three more elements came into play, although one of them has not been seen since; the remaining ones took a little longer to appear but that does not really matter. Let's make a list of them – a list You have probably seen many times before but I hope You will bear with me, as I will try to provide some presumably new information.

_Katon (Fire Element)_: The very first elemental jutsu to be used in Naruto was fire-based and it was the most classical one – the Uchiha trademark, Gōkakyu no Jutsu. I hope this is a good reason to start the list with fire.  
I do not think it was ever explained in any material how to transform chakra into fire but I suspect the caster needs to focus on the idea of heat, which is basically rapid movement of particles, and concentration of energy to create fire. Without exception, all fire-based jutsus thus far used in Naruto were "breathed out". This means that the caster gathers chakra inside the neck, or larynx to be more precise, compresses it, heats it and then expels it with the force of breath. I guess the fire itself is not created inside the oral cavity because the "tip" of it is always seen a little bit in front of the mouth and the heat constantly moves away from the caster. It makes sense – You do not want to get Your mouth burned out. I suppose that the chakra "mixture" is a controlled substance and the shinobi lets it react with the outside air only when the distance is safe. I think these are the reasons we have not yet seen anyone palm a Rasengan/Raikiri-like fireball. The breath used for the pushing-out process is usually a continuous one but in the case of Hōsenka no Jutsu, it would be more logical to assume that the flames are being released in short separate bursts, or in other words "spit out".  
The "quality" of a fire attack is simple enough to deduce; it is fire after all. It engulfs and scorches the enemies, working its way from the surface evenly into the bodies, but it does neither pierce nor put pressure on them. Katon jutsus are canonically best suited for mid-range to long-range combat and I think the simple reason is that You do not want to get burned Yourself, You do not want the jutsus to "backfire". Skilled users should be able to minimise this drawback but they would also tend to use more advanced techniques with longer and wider range so they are probably not interested in catching their enemies off guard with small, controlled flames, whilst engaged in close-quarters combat.  
_A supposedly funny side-note_: When I take a look at the word "Housenka", I cannot stop smiling. If I leave it the way it is written, the way it would be pronounced in my language is something like /hose-enka/. The funny part is that the word "housenka" in Czech means caterpillar. Imagine that to me one of Sasuke's cool Katon jutsus is called "Caterpillar no Jutsu".

_Fūton (Wind Element)_: The first wind-based jutsu performed was not any of Temari's stuff during her Chūnin Exams preliminary match against Tenten. It was actually Orochimaru in disguise in the Forest of Death who took the honour with Daitoppa. His attack was mainly to blow the enemies away and let the landing impact do the damage. Temari's attacks were also focused on blowing the danger away and additionally on slashing her opponent.  
Fortunately, here canon provides an explanation of how to transform chakra into wind precisely. The shinobi has to imagine the chakra to be split into two halves and have those two halves grind against each other in opposite directions to sharpen the edges and thus create a blade of wind. I will take Asuma's word for it and not doubt him. Unlike Katon, there are more ways to "expel" the wind chakra from Your system. Temari uses her fan, which leads me to believe that she channels chakra into it through her hands and manipulates the air particles the fan strikes, occasionally creating those cutting sickles. Orochimaru's Daitoppa and Gaara, when he was half-transformed, and Shukaku's Renkūdan was performed by breathing out, much like a Katon jutsu. Asuma channels his wind chakra into and around his special knives and holds it in place to create true wind blades. Naruto has yet to go beyond focusing the wind-natured chakra in the area of his hands or into the Rasengan.  
The "quality" of a wind attack is that it either puts pressure on the enemies and blows them away or cuts them with small sickles. Canon material says that Fūton jutsus are good for close-range and mid range combat. There has to be a reason why it is not that good for long range combat and I suspect it has to do with the fact that wind has lower density and cohesion than fire and thus dissipates sooner. If a wind user wanted to get a similar effect a fire user gets at long range, he or she would have to put in more energy and focus. Gaara's Renkūdan may have travelled far but remember that it was demon-powered; Temari's Kirikiri Mai levelled a huge area of forest but that was a Kuchiyose technique; I like to think that this proves my point. I can see great potential for Fūton techniques. Remember how Baki taunted Hayate that a wind blade cannot be stopped? Imagine a specially forged sword, similar to Asuma's knives in its nature, into which a shinobi would focus wind chakra and then slice with the sword and send a wind sickle flying at the enemy. Something between the Issen attack from Ninja Scroll TV and sound attacks. You can dodge or block the weapon but You cannot do anything with that gust of wind other than neutralising it with another gust of wind or absorbing it with a Katon.  
_Another shot at creativity_: Imagine if it were possible to create controlled mini-wind-sickles (in other words, violent wind-manipulated chakra) around Your hands for devastating results upon every connecting blow in barehanded combat.

_Raiton (Lightning Element)_: There has not been a great variety of lightning jutsus yet and the first one that was seen was the only one for a long time. I am talking about Kakashi's very own Raikiri, of course. I used to think that Chidori that Sasuke learned was something of a weaker version of Raikiri and it would have made a lot of sense to me. Even if You leave out practicing new taijutsu and working on speed, how else would he be able to learn it in only one month? But after checking reliable sources, I had to face the fact that Raikiri and Chidori are merely two names for the same thing, Chidori putting emphasis on the acoustic aspect of it while in motion. The other techniques that have appeared thus far were variations of Chidori and one Raiton attack performed by Kakuzu. The filler character Raiga doubtlessly used some Raitons but I do not remember him very well and he is not that important anyway.  
This gives me very little to go by when trying to figure out how one creates lightning out of chakra. Lightning is a steady current and needs a conductor, a medium. The human body is a decent enough conductor so we have that part already sorted out. The shinobi somehow needs to charge the chakra up and order the particles in that current that will inevitably branch out into its surroundings in small bursts. Or have You ever seen a lightning composed of only one line, no matter how zigzagging? Raikiri/Chidori is formed on the palm of a hand, which is too close to not permeate the caster's body. This leads me to believe that when shinobis want to create lightning chakra, they need to "activate" their whole chakra circulatory system to somehow let it pass harmlessly through them; think of how Sasuke's hair undulates when he activated a Chidori to assault Itachi. I know it was probably there just for added effect but hey, I am trying to come up with a theory here! After the system is prepared, the shinobi will gather the transformed chakra into an appendage for discharge. If the shinobi has a metallic weapon in hand, the lightning chakra can be conducted through it to a farther distance without the need to expel it directly from the body and the risk of getting singed.  
The "quality" of a lightning attack is that it pierces and/or permeates the opponent's body. It will most frequently burn the enemy from the inside, as opposed to Katon. It is stated that Raiton is good for mid-range and long-range combat but Raikiri/Chidori is good for close-range combat only, which makes Raiton the most combat-versatile element yet.  
_An explanation_: Raikiri/Chidori needs very fast movement to have the devastating effect that was seen when Haku protected Zabuza with his own body from Kakashi's attack. Natural lightning is capable of drilling holes into the ground but the lightning-manipulated chakra of this jutsu lacks the speed natural lightning has, hence the requirement for it. Without it, Kakashi/Sasuke would only be able to shock the target/s and not puncture the body. Even after that, most of the tissue-tearing drilling is apparently done by the force of the caster's arm.

_Doton (Earth Element)_: There have been many instances of Doton jutsus being used both in canon and in fillers and the variety of those has been more impressive than that of Raiton jutsus. They allow a shinobi to travel underground, which is perfect for surprise attacks; they can create patches of mud to make the enemies lose their footing; they can be used to create very strong walls for high protection against all the other elements with the exception of Raiton; they allow the users to harden their bodies to solid rock; Deidara's clay bombs are based off of earth manipulation; last but not least, similar to Gaara's sand attacks, a Doton jutsu can literally bury an enemy alive. The body-hardening usage makes me want to believe that skilled Doton users should also be able to make their bodies soft like mud and absorb attacks much like T-1000 in Terminator 2 could.  
The majority of Doton jutsus that have appeared during the course of Naruto used the soil around the shinobi, while the mud techniques and body-hardening use a shinobi's own resources. As the mud is always spewed out of the mouth, manipulating chakra to gain the properties of earth is done in the larynx, much like with Katon. However, this nature manipulation seems easier as the shinobis probably focus only on gathering the chakra particles into a dense mass that is stable, firm, the movement of particles practically none, and then add their saliva into the mix. The body hardening technique is a tougher nut to crack (literally). I think I will just say that since the technique is achieved through the use of hand seals, it is a ninjutsu and as such does not directly require the chakra to be manipulated into earth by the shinobi, but it rather uses chakra to manipulate the surface tissue of Your body to resemble rock by draining some fluids and compressing the remaining mass.  
The "quality" of an earth attack is that of any solid instrument used. You can create sharp stalagmites and spears to pierce through Your enemy just like You would impale someone with a sword or cut them up like You would with a scythe. The problem is that such attacks can be stopped easily as compared to wind attacks and they target a precise spot as opposed to lightning that enters the whole body, no matter how and where it hits. On the other hand, You can create enormous pressure a wind attack is incapable of by encasing the enemy in a pile of earth and rubble, like Gaara does with his sand. Hardening Your body gives You a considerable edge in close-range combat but only from the defensive point of view. I did say that it is possible to create sharp objects but the success rate of this approach is equal to Your skill with weapons.  
_A comparison_: Using Doton can be more problematic than using Suiton (which is up next) in some situations. When Sandaime Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen battled Orochimaru, he needed to create mud of his own before he could cast Doryū Heki, whilst Nidaime Hokage Senju Tobirama was able to gather water from very far away.

_Suiton (Water Element)_: The second story arc (Land of Waves) introduced to us Momochi Zabuza, a nukenin from Kirigakure and former member of the Seven Swordsmen, and two of his goons, the Demon Brothers. All of them were unmistakeable water types. They gave me a decent idea about what purposes Suiton jutsus can serve. Suiton users are able to liquidate their bodies into water and hide very efficiently this way; they can create thick mist by increasing the amount of water particles in the air; they can make water denser and thus make it harder for the enemy to move in it (the Suirō no Jutsu is a good example of heavier water that is used to entrap and slowly drown an enemy). It should also be possible to create water with decreased buoyancy by increasing the amount of air particles in it to achieve similar results. Check out Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and the boss-fight with Vamp to see what I am talking about.  
Just like with Katon and Doton, I suspect that transforming raw chakra to give it the properties of water is also done in the larynx. I think so because the only instance of water being released directly from the body was Gamabunta's Teppōdama. The differences are that the movement of particles is slower than with Katon and faster than with Doton and, logically, the density required is greater than with Katon and lower than with Doton. Water is a liquid, simple as that. As opposed to Raiton, I presume that while the concept of flow is essential too, it has to imagined be in all directions, free of bounds. However, it is more common for Suiton users to gather water particles from their surroundings and concentrate them into currents than to "use their own resources".  
The "quality" of a water attack is probably the most special of all the elements. It cannot shock like Raiton, it definitely cannot burn like Katon, it is not as efficient as Fūton when it comes to cutting and not as efficient as Doton when it comes to applying pressure. However, its shaping is the most versatile – it is more flexible than Doton, more encompassing than Fūton and less dangerous to the user than Katon and Raiton. The caster can virtually manipulate the water into any shape and it can move around defences with ease. After I mentioned "own resources" at the end of the preceding paragraph, I can think of one more use for Suiton techniques – to suck out the moisture from the enemies' bodies and then blasting them with it should be very devastating.  
_Wishful thinking_: A part of the Naruto fan-fic community decided that Hinata is a water type because of the way she danced in the waterfall and the water moved about with her in sync (that was during the Bikōchū filler arc). It is not an element in conflict with Naruto's Fūton, which is fine. For reasons that I will explain in later chapters, I think water types should be even rarer than wind types in Fire Country.

That would do it for the basics. Now, I will briefly continue with the three elemental fusions: Hyōton, Mokuton and Yōton.

_Hyōton (Ice Element)_: Hyōton is a kekkei genkai and was used by Haku and by shinobis from Yukigakure but since I consider the films to be nowhere near canon (especially this one), I will only take Haku into account.  
Ice is formed through the simultaneous use of water and wind, double nature manipulation. I suspect that water is the basic material and super-cool air is added into it to create ice. Haku always created ice outside of his body by utilising the surrounding water and air so I cannot tell You exactly how one would go about giving chakra the properties of ice and where would it take place. I can theorise that the concept the caster needs to focus on would be that of arrested movement, simply because the molecules of cold objects move more slowly.  
The "quality" of an ice attack should be similar to Doton because it operates with solid objects. As ice users have skill in two elements, it should be no problem to engulf their enemies in water and then freeze them. That would provide pressure inferior to Doton but superior to Suiton with the added effect of the cold getting into the enemies' bodies, which would be similar to Katon - evenly through the surface. The added effect would be faster suffocation of the enemy because there are no pores in ice as opposed to earth.

_Mokuton (Wood Element)_: This was the bloodline limit of Shodai Hokage Senju Hashirama and was implanted by Orochimaru into Yamato.  
Wood is formed through the simultaneous use of earth and water. I suspect that earth is the basic material to which water is added. Think about it - plants and trees cannot grow on water with a small addition of soil but they sure as hell can grow on soil with very little water. It is said that to create wood chakra, the concept the caster needs to focus on is that of creating and sprouting life, the integration of minerals of the soil and oxygen of the water and the seeds of life present in both. Yamato is frequently seen transforming parts of his body into wood. Minerals, water, oxygen and organic material are all present in the human body. When creating a Moku-Bunshin and the tracking seeds, he disjoins the wood from his body and that apparently takes away his own mass. It looks similar to the rapid energy consumption the special Akimichi pills allow. Therefore, he does not use it extensively.  
The "quality" of a wood attack looks strikingly similar to that of Doton but there must be something that makes wood superior. I mean besides the ability of wood chakra to suppress demonic chakra of even the most sinister calibre. I could presume that Mokuton jutsus can reach further from where they sprout compared to Doton jutsus, that they are easier to move around and that wood is somehow sturdier than earth.

_Yōton (Lava Element)_: Unlike Hyōton and Mokuton, this element is not really a kekkei genkai. The Yonbi Jinchūriki named Rōshi could use it only when he accessed his Bijū's power. The Yonbi is supposedly capable of doing other, unknown elemental fusions.  
Lava is formed through the simultaneous use of earth and fire. It should come as no surprise that earth is probably the basic element and that fire is the additive, because lava is super-heated earth. Going about it the other way would yield hardly any results. Earth can be safely "produced" inside the larynx, while fire cannot, which means that all the necessary manipulation should take place outside the body.  
The "quality" of a lava attack probably combines the advantages of water and fire, since there is no need for the pressure of earth and the flexibility of liquid fire-earth is akin to water. The biggest problem with Yōton is that it appeared only once, very briefly and only in words and will probably be forgotten forever.

The last matter that should be addressed it the _Yin & Yang (Dark & Light)_ "element". I have initially dismissed this matter due to inadequate amount of information but since almost everything I have presented here is my own fan speculation, I think it will not hurt to have a little more of it. Yin & Yang was first mentioned as an element in chapter 316 of the manga and episode 55 of Shippūden, where Naruto's hunger for knowledge leads him to ask about how Kage Mane no Jutsu, Baika no Jutsu, genjutsu and medical ninjutsu are created. Although there are only five "real" elements in total, this is considered the "sixth" element. When Jiraiya is remembering his former student Nagato in chapter 375, he says that his Rinnegan allowed him to master "all six different elemental chakra". Regarding light and darkness as elements is nothing new. If You are familiar with the "Legacy of Kain" video game series, You know that the wraith-blade Soul Reaver could be imbued with various elements, light and darkness even being the first two.  
Figuring out how dark & light is formed is difficult. Try to imagine that chakra is like a coin and for shinobis to utilise the dark or light aspect of it, they need to fully focus on one whole side of that coin. Unlike the "normal" elements, I think that there is no decidedly best place on a shinobi's body to create this type of elemental chakra because it looks harmless on its own. If Baika no Jutsu really is an application of the dark & light "element", it proves my point because it affects the entire body of the caster.  
The "quality" of a dark & light attack is neither one nor the other. If the jutsus mentioned are anything to go by, then it is what the caster wants it to be. Medical ninjutsu as well as genjutsu can be harmful, harmless and neutral and both Kage Mane and Baika no Jutsu are tools whose effects are up to the caster.  
_To be continued_: I think I am unable to explain this any further in the scope of this chapter. I do not want to branch out into other fields and break the continuity. You will have to check the following chapters for more information on this special "element".

I think I will stop here. I have initially intended to also discuss affinities and the circular pattern of their interaction and then talk about the shape and nature manipulations and how Naruto goes about combining them. But when I got here, I realised that this is already much longer than the chapter on hand seals. I want to prevent heads (both Yours and mine) from exploding. I will leave the matters mentioned for the next two chapters, which will hopefully make the whole matter neater and more transparent.

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**Outbound Message:**

**I think this is as smooth as I can make it. Just like last time, I will not ask for reviews. However, if You decide my text is worth it, then go ahead.**

**Stay on the safe side!**


	3. Affinities

**Once Upon a Time:**

**To be honest with You, this is what I wanted to write about from the very beginning. I was not really interested in how each element came to be but I had to at least touch the topic to be able to start this one without any remorse. The previous chapter just kind of "happened and kept happening" and I could not erase it, I had to go through with it. It grew way beyond its intended scope but it made me think about new perspectives, for which I was eventually grateful.**

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Thoughts and Speculations Three: Affinities

Continuing the matter of elements from the previous chapter, I will now talk about the elemental affinities, their workings and the circular pattern in which they are ordered. The observant types among You saw that the previous chapter already had the elements in their order – it was something I thought should be done to give my "work" more consistency.

If You are new to the whole business of elemental affinities, I suggest You take a break from reading this sterile text and instead find the manga chapters 315 and onwards (with special attention to chapter 333) and/or watch Shippūden episodes 55 and 73 and onwards to get the information first-hand. I am telling You this because I may take some knowledge on Your part for granted and because it is better to have Your own opinion to confront with mine instead of having it shoved down Your throats like I owned the canon universe. Which I do not... wait... did I just put a disclaimer here?

Either way, this is where I begin. In the world of Naruto, every human being has a special kind of energy called "chakra" flowing inside. The chakra of every individual is closely connected to one of the five elements of the world. In the shinobi circles, where people are taught to use and manipulate their chakra, this connection is referred to as affinity. I am making this distinction because ordinary civilians, who are unable to access their chakra and work with it, have no way of taking advantage of this potential. Even if an individual's chakra were attuned to the water element to allow proficiency with Suiton jutsus similar to that of Nidaime Hokage Senju Tobirama, it would never make a difference in that individual's life without proper shinobi training.

The civilians will merely feel more at ease when in the prevalent presence of the element to which they are connected. Hence, there will be Fire people – pyromaniacs who are not partial to water because it douses their darling flames. There will be Air people – who are jealous of birds because they can soar through the mighty wind currents, who will frequently dream of free-falling and who will be the eccentric geniuses secretly building their flying machines; and be wary of the flames that consume the air. There will be Lightning people – those who dance in thunderstorms and are infinitely mesmerised by power plants, batteries, conductors and sparks; and are wary of strong winds that blow away the sparky clouds. There will be Earth people – dedicated farmers who like to get their hands dirty more than anything else, who love digging holes and filling them up, who in their spare time climb mountains and do pottery; and are wary of those thunderstorms that can scorch their land. Finally, there will be Water people – the life-long sailors, ferrymen, anglers, people who swim and dive and can be relied on when drinking water needs to be found; and are wary of the land and its "unusual firmness".

The shinobi talk about affinity because it is the predisposition of every one's chakra to be more easily manipulated to gain properties of one element than all the other four. This also means that their chakra often naturally regroups itself inside the coils as if it were commanded to adopt the properties of that element. However, that is not to say that, for example, there is electricity coursing through the bodies of lightning types, although there probably is a connection between being a lightning type and the more frequent occurrence of tiny electric shocks when touching metal objects. I suspect I am a lightning type.

To determine which shinobi has which elemental affinity a very simple test is used. The shinobi will be given a piece of paper that was made from specially grown trees that are periodically infused with chakra and have thus developed sensitivity to it over time. The paper is just like any other kind of paper. The wood is chopped up and ground and mixed with water and whatnot and the final product lacks the firmness and resistance of the fibres of the wood it comes from to withstand further infusions. Thus, there is a violent reaction when chakra is channelled into this sensitive material that disqualifies repeated usage. However, presuming the subject was a wind type or a lightning type, it can then be used as ordinary paper for writing on because the degradation is not that severe. When the predisposition is determined, that shinobi should, and most likely will, focus on that element to allow for easier acquisition of new techniques and smoother usage of the already acquired ones. That is not to say that shinobi cannot experience feelings like the "ignorant" civilians; no, they will most likely feel the same way but they will also know why and understand themselves better.

Note that I omitted the exact reactions the paper has to each of the elements because I take that knowledge for granted on Your part and I do not want to waste time and keystrokes on simply repeating what You should already know.

When Naruto is done hurting the innocent piece of paper and Kakashi tells him that he is a wind type and informs him of the advantages it has to offer, he excitedly exclaims that "he is awesome!" Kakashi does not hesitate to mitigate Naruto's enthusiasm by insisting that he is not awesome. Kakashi was referring to Naruto's inexperience with his element but the other, more important, aspect played its part as well, although maybe only subconsciously. The fact is that all the elements and their usage have their advantages and disadvantages and none of them is superior to all the other four. It IS rare to be a wind type in Fire Country, just like it is rare being an earth type in Lightning Country or a fire type in Water Country. It is not awesome. It is just unusual. The most obvious reason why being a wind type is not awesome is the circular system in which the elements are ordered.

This system is in accordance with the general "no one is the best" tone Kishimoto set for his universe. Unsurprisingly, he took cues for that from classical pieces of Japanese literature, namely "The Tale of the Gallant Jiraiya" in which the three main protagonists, known in Naruto as the Legendary Sannin, operated in a rock-paper-scissors scheme – snake beats toad, toad beats slug, slug beats snake. The elements are ordered like this: fire - wind - lightning - earth - water - fire. You can see that this implies not only strength against one element but also weakness against another element and that is not all. I will now talk about this in more detail.

_Fire (Hi)_ is strong against wind and weak against water. This should come as no surprise. Fire easily consumes air because it cannot exist without it and gusts of wind feed it. Think of the frequent summer forest fires in California and similar environments. It is very hard to battle those fires because there is wind feeding it and propagating it. Water, on the other hand, is the best element to douse the flames of any fire because it cuts the air supply most efficiently. Earth is also capable of dousing fire but is normally inferior to water. You do not see planes and helicopters dropping sand on those forest fires, now do You?

_Wind (Kaze)_ is strong against lightning and weak against fire. The weakness against fire has mostly been explained above – blowing into a fire will not douse it. "Fanning the flames of Youth" is also a good metaphor. How wind can be superior to lightning is, however, a small mystery to me. I have thought about it and come to the conclusion that wind in Narutoverse is somehow capable of effectively dispersing the lightning. The last time I was out in a violent thunderstorm (voluntarily) and watched for the bolts, there were a lot of them that did not hit the ground but just streaked across the sky in very jagged patterns.

_Lightning (Kaminari)_ is strong against earth and weak against wind. Again, the weakness against wind has more or less been covered. I mentioned in the previous chapter that lightning is capable of burning holes in the ground. Its penetrative nature is most evident when matched up against a wall of earth that cannot compete.

_Earth (Tsuchi)_ is strong against water and weak against lightning. I had to stretch my imagination here a bit. I still have a hard time understanding exactly WHY lightning is so good at driving through earth but I guess I, and then in turn You, will understand it better once I leave this descriptive paragraph and go more in-depth. The strength against water, on the other hand, is not that hard to imagine – soil simply soaks the water up and rocks part its currents with apparent ease.

_Water (Mizu)_ is strong against fire and weak against earth. Weakness covered, strength also covered, end of story.

Now, the most logical question to follow is "Does it always work like that?" Well, yes and no. The elemental system in Naruto states that not only is water weak against earth and strong against fire but also that water feeds earth and makes it stronger and fire feeds water and makes it stronger as well. From a strictly scientific point of view, this system would be flawed but we are talking about chakra here. However, there should be some basis to it in the workings of Mother Nature.

Let's start with fire again; or I should say Katon now. Katon jutsus are not only ineffective against Suiton jutsus. It so happens that when jutsus of these two elements collide, the Suiton one douses the flames, absorbs the energy contained in them and becomes even stronger than the caster made it. The relationship between Katon and Fūton and all the other elements in sequence is basically the same. The collision of these two has the reaction of fire hungrily consuming the wind blown against it and the energy contained within it. As Fūton is capable of effectively dispersing Raiton, it then collects the dispersed energy. How Raiton absorbs Doton is, however, a mystery and the only part of the system which I do not understand. Raiton jutsus are best suited for penetrating Doton jutsus and they do so by burning a hole though them. It is probably the scorching process that disrupts the earth chakra and adds it to the lightning chakra passing through. This is the best explanation I can come up with. The final part of the system – how Doton absorbs Suiton – is easier to figure out. Soil is naturally very apt at absorbing water and in the realm of jutsus it also means absorbing the chakra energy the water carried.

I sense the question "Does it always work like that?" is still hanging in the air. You are probably wondering about the instances when too much wind overpowers a flame or when too much water splits apart the earth. The system has taken this into account as well. The rules I described in the preceding paragraph apply most of the time. When jutsus of the same force and opposing elements encounter, the stronger element wins by default and it is also able to win even when the jutsu of the weaker element has more force packed into it. Of course, it works only to a certain degree. Determining how much force would a jutsu of the weaker element need to neutralise or overpower a jutsu of the stronger element is up for debate and Your guess is as good as mine. If I tell You that a weaker element has to have 133% force of the stronger element to neutralise it, anything bellow to be consumed by it and anything above to overpower it, You would have no logical argument to agree or disagree. You could only say either "that sounds about right" or "no, that does not sound right". Nonetheless, I assume that jutsus of "weaker" elements are never able to consume the chakra contained in the jutsus of the "stronger" element.

Furthermore, if anyone of You is thinking about the proverb "fight fire with fire" and how it could apply to this system of strengths and weaknesses, I can refer You to two situations: Kakashi's first battle with Zabuza and Kakashi's confrontation with Kakuzu. In the first situation, the two cast Siuryūdan simultaneously, only to have them cancel each other out. In the second situation, Kakashi shields the others from Kakuzu's Raiton jutsu with his Raikiri. It is pretty easy to deduce that when two jutsus of the same element clash, the one with more power will prevail, and that this is the sole determining factor.

Now that I have taken the matter of "strong vs. weak" out of the way, I can return to the moment Naruto channelled his chakra into the piece of paper and the reaction showed that he is a wind type. I have already hinted at what being a wind type means – that the chakra in his coils most frequently assumes the properties of wind and is thus easier to persuade to act like that when it is forced out. There is more to it. When I think about the wholes in Naruto, I also think about each and every part. Chakra itself is mostly neutral, all-purpose energy. When I image it having an affinity, I do not forget about the remaining aspects of it.

Let's start a new paragraph to ensure that what I am about to say is clear enough. I said that chakra is neutral and all-purpose because it is ALWAYS able to be manipulated into ANY one of the five elements. The affinity it has is merely what I have said a few times before – that one kind of transformation is more easily achieved than the other four. I will use a description involving percentage again. As all five elements are "present" in chakra, each element takes up a portion of it in a descending manner. Being a wind type simply means that the percentage amount of "wind" chakra in Naruto's system is the highest, higher than any of the others, always more than 20%. I do not know how Naruto's chakra is divided precisely so I will just give You a wild guess that has nothing to do with reality. Let's say that Naruto's chakra is 45% wind, 19% earth, 18% water, 13% lightning and the remaining 5% is fire.

I presume that there are no human beings whose chakra would be 100% of one element and 0% of the other four. I also disqualify the possibility of any one of the elements to be non-present, that there is always at least a minute amount of every element present. That said, the number of human beings – I think I should revert back to specifying it to shinobi – the number of shinobi with extremely high affinity (let's say 75% or higher) is very low, likewise is the number of shinobi whose affinity is very weak and the percentages of all the elements are around 20. The perfectly even division into five 20% portions is just as impossible as the 100% pure one-element chakra.

The more observant ones among You have probably caught on to the fact that I have been avoiding the "Yin & Yang" (Dark and Light) element. I think this is the best time to introduce it into the mix. Dark & Light is and at the same time is not an "element". It is not present in the circular system of strengths and weaknesses but it is considered one of the chakra nature manipulations. In my opinion, there is no real "Yin & Yang" elemental affinity. If there were, Kakashi would have probably explained to Naruto how the chakra paper would react to it. Also, think of the term used for this special "element" - Yin & Yang or Dark & Light or In & Yō (陰 & 陽), which is what they say in canon. It is one element and at the same time two concepts of polar opposition are mentioned. I believe that all of the chakra present in a shinobi's body is not only divided into what comes from the physical energy of the body and what comes from the mental energy of the soul and into the five basic elemental portions, but it is also evenly divided into 50% of Dark chakra and 50% of Light chakra. These two aspects are constantly intermingling and interacting, they battle each other and they complement each other, they are evenly present in all five "regular" elements. Because neither one nor the other is prevalent at any time, the chakra paper simply cannot react to it. This dichotomy prevents this sixth element from disrupting or reinforcing any one of the five basic elements or having an advantage or a disadvantage against them and is the cause for the inexistence of a real "Yin & Yang affinity". I also think that there is no possibility of a "Dark vs. Light" situation. They are two sides of one coin, if You will. One is not better than the other and they exist together in an almost inseparable unity. Using only one aspect of the sixth element, just like a lying coin displaying only one side, is possible but using it against the other aspect of it will not cancel it. I will return to this element near the end.

Now, back to Naruto's chakra division. Were some of You caught off guard when I said that I presume Naruto's fire chakra to be only 5%? I had a reason for that, which I am about to explain now. Continuing with the omnipresent concepts of opposites and complementations, I assume that, aside from affinity, every shinobi has also something like "elemental infinity". You will need to look up the etymology of this word to understand why I chose it but I will not torture You any further and rephrase it in layman's terms: "Every shinobi sucks at the manipulation of one element." Where there is a natural predisposition to excel in one field, there is also a predisposition to be pathetically incompetent in another. I originally thought that the element one type would suck at would be the same for everyone else of the same affinity. I wanted to believe that that element would be the one the types are weak against: that wind types would suck miserably at performing Katon jutsus, lightning types at Fūton jutsus, earth types at Raiton jutsus, water types at Doton jutsus and, finally, fire types at Suiton jutsus. I think I got this idea from Tellemicus Sundance's "Legacy of the Rasengan I: Naruto" again. In that fic, Naruto wants, among other things, to be able to use Katon jutsus to compare with Sasuke but the best he can do is blowing a smokescreen from his mouth - that is not even fire.

I used past tense there because canon material provided two situations that blew this part of my theory to bits. The first one is when Hoshigaki Kisame, a clear water type, enters the scene to fight Team Gai during the Rescue Gaara arc, he uses a Doton jutsu to move rapidly underground. The second one is when Sarutobi Asuma, a confirmed wind type, attempts to scorch Hidan with a powerful Katon jutsu. Imagine my dismay when I remembered these situations and was put back to square one. Well, I did not give up because only the idea of a "systemic elemental infinity" was made invalid. The possibility of a "non-systemic elemental infinity" is still there.

Think back on the recent filler character Fūka and the canon character Kakuzu. Fūka was able to perform high-level jutsus of every element but only because she had five bodies at her disposal to shift between, each of them having one of the affinities. Kakuzu was seen performing high-level jutsus of four elements and he achieved that because he had four other hearts implanted into his body. He did not perform any Suiton jutsus. It is presumed that the heart that was the first one to be "killed" was the one with water affinity. He DID use a Mizu Bunshin in the filler scenes when fighting Kakashi but that was his own heart and that one does not specialise in just one element. Nonetheless, they both had to acquire the blood, body and chakra of other types. The fact that these two characters had to "cheat" in order to acquire good control of every element proves my point, I think.

So there is an element for every shinobi to suck at. Which one of the four it is may not be determined in a systemic fashion but I still believe that the "neighbouring" elements are the most likely candidates. Take a look at this: Asuma (wind type) may have used a Katon jutsu but he was never seen using a Raiton jutsu; Kakashi (lightning type) can use Doton jutsus but he has not yet been seen using a Fūton jutsu (I hope he never will be because he has already used four elements); Kisame (water type) may have used a Doton jutsu but he has never used a Katon jutsu on screen; Sasuke (fire type) is yet to show us if he is capable of using Suiton or Fūton jutsus. Kishimoto may eventually decide to blow even this part of my theory to bits by having some confirmed type perform a jutsu of both "neighbouring" elements but there simply MUST be one element for every shinobi to be unusable. The opposite is unthinkable.

Elite shinobi are capable of controlling other elements beside the one of their affinity but it takes more time. As Kakashi said, it is usual for a Jōnin to be a master of two elements, the second being naturally the one with the second highest percentage. Although I have said that everyone must suck at one element at least, this is true only from the point of view of mortals and those who do not possess the Rinnegan. Since there is always a partial potential to somehow control even that fifth element (like Naruto's presumed 5% of fire), given an infinite number of life-times and huge chakra capacity, it should and eventually will be possible to master all five elements. I did not just contradict myself there because I offered humanly impossible circumstances. Do not doubt me.

The great question in opposition to this theory of mine You can probably ask is: "What about the sixth element, the Yin & Yang, then? Would it not be possible to be a master of the basic five and suck at that?" Well, in my opinion, the perfectly even division of chakra into two halves - one Yin and one Yang - that at the same time look inseparable also gives EVERY shinobi an equal chance at using and mastering this "element"; it is always attainable. While the five basic elements provide enough hints that there should be a deficiency, the sixth element which is at the same time a part of the system and exists apart from the system does not seem to function that way. After Kakashi explained to Naruto the five basic elements and told him that Yamato's Mokuton is a slightly different matter, Naruto enquired about the Nara and Akimichi clan techniques, medical jutsu and genjutsu. Both Kakashi and Yamato agreed that explaining that would get them nowhere in their situation and Yamato implicitly declared that the techniques mentioned are an application of the Yin & Yang element. Now, Naruto may not have a knack for genjutsu but it is one of the three shinobi techniques. If there were a possibility for deficiency with the Yin & Yang element, Kage Mane no Jutsu and Baika no Jutsu could not become clan techniques handed down from generation to generation. A clan technique is not a kekkei genkai and anyone can learn it. Furthermore, a critical deficiency in one of the three fields of shinobi combat, namely genjutsu here, that does not originate from some physical condition would have already been accounted for in some way.

To conclude my musings, I should make good on my promise to explain a matter I touched upon in one of the side-notes of the preceding chapter. I theorised that while wind types are a rare occurrence in Fire country, water types should be even rarer. This stems from my initial idea of "systemic elemental infinity" – that namely fire types suck at Suiton jutsus. I just think that it is more probable for Fire Country shinobi to have a "weakling" (a wind type) in their midst rather than a "natural enemy" (a water type). Consequently, earth types should be the greatest rarity in Water Country, lightning types in Earth Country, wind types in Lightning Country and, finally, fire types in Wind Country.

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**And They Lived Happily Ever After:**

**The logical continuation of this should be nature and shape manipulations. Although I have already given You some thoughts on how the various elements are created, I have not yet touched on the subject of shape manipulation and the combination of the two.**

**Stay on the safe side!**


	4. Manipulations

**Mission Briefing:**

**I hope this will wrap up the whole concept of chakra usage. I started with hand seals, wanted to continue with affinities but somehow managed to squeeze elements in there and now it is time to take a comprehensive look at the manipulations. I partially explained nature manipulation in the chapter on elements and I will draw upon it.**

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Thoughts and Speculations Four: Manipulations

As You should already know, when shinobis expel chakra from their bodies they can use it to power jutsus or change its nature or change its shape or use it in a different way, for example for water-walking or disrupting genjutsu, or do a combination of these. If the chakra is to be used for a jutsu, it is already moulded through the use of hand seals prior to the expulsion. If the chakra is to be used to disrupt a genjutsu, etc., it is expelled in a steady flow and that is about it. If the chakra is to be controlled and manipulated outside of the shinobi's system, then nature and shape manipulations come to play and these two will be the focus of this chapter.

Although Kakashi explained shape manipulation to Naruto first, I will begin my explanation with nature manipulation instead, because I have already covered some ground on it in chapter 2, chapter 3 was on affinities, so this will be an uninterrupted process. The exact Japanese term that is used in canon is "seishitsu henka". If You want the exact symbols as well, then I believe they are 性質変化. Since I know that even the best translations cannot replace the original, I decided to please those of You who know Japanese and thus give You a clearer idea of the concept. However, those of You whose computers are unable to display the kanji, hiragana and katakana symbols, just like mine at home, will probably find this piece of information pretty much useless. Ah well, that is life. All right, enough chitchat, it is time for some science. Nature manipulation is basically used to change the nature of the expelled chakra into that of one of the six elements or one of the elemental fusions. I am sorry to say this but I will have to inspect each of the six elements separately to get my point across better. That is because each element is formed differently. However, I hope I will be able to find some generalising information that will be valid for each one.

Well then, let's have a shinobi demonstrate for us. Because I am currently sick of writing in a politically correct, genderless way, I will let You imagine whichever Naruto character You like for this position, be it a male or a female or Orochimaru. I will pick my favourite adult of Naruto – Namikaze Minato. If You picked a female or Orochimaru, disregard the "he"s I will use and replace them with the proper pronoun. I will kindly ask him to focus some chakra into the palm of his hand, just to show us he can do it effortlessly. His hand glows with a pretty light-blue sheen as the chakra is undulating out of him and sort of evaporating and dispersing into the air like a cold blue flame. Since his name implies that he should be either a wind type or a water type and since wind nature manipulation is pretty well known, I will ask him to transform the chakra on his palm into water. He nods and starts to focus and soon his hand is getting wet, a small pool forming by his feet. I think that is enough so I thank him and say good-bye.

Now that the little demonstration is over, it is time to reflect on it. What Minato did back there was of course nature manipulation and, as the term suggests, it is the process of calling upon one of the natural alignments present in chakra and strengthening it to the point when it was able to govern the general behaviour of all the particles in question. He did it by focusing on the concepts that the element embodies and by keeping in mind what that element can serve as. This is the crucial part because for the nature manipulation to be successful, he had to understand the element and not force his own ideas on it – You cannot go against nature. It is possible to create water out of chakra but it is not possible to create sake; it is possible to create fire but, unless it is some freaky fusion I am not familiar with, it is not possible to make it cold. I think this is as general as I can make it. From this point on, the differences will rear their ugly heads. I am sorry.

In the chapter on elements, I was bouncing between nature manipulation inside and outside of the body and which situation is more likely for which element. Now, I will try to find an explanation for how it is done outside of the body for all six elements. I will preserve the order in which I presented the elements previously, meaning that I will once again begin with fire and finish with water.

_Fire Manipulation_: To give chakra the properties of fire, a shinobi probably has to focus on these concepts: heat, light, consumption and unbound propagation. Heat is understandable enough and it is probably achieved through commanding the particles to move very rapidly, since heat is energy and energy is movement. I picked light as the second concept because I proposed that every element must be understood in its entirety and light is an essential part of fire; it is the most evident manifestation of energy. The concept of consumption is as clear as that of heat. Because fire is to be all-consuming the chakra particles need to be commanded to absorb everything that gets in their way. Unbound propagation is a little problematic because while fire burns wherever there is fuel for it (consumption), a shinobi seeks to control it. It would not do any good to transform chakra into fire and then have it incinerate Your clothes or burn away Your skin. Therefore, the fire has to be allowed to do whatever it pleases and at the same time the shinobi has to focus it in the desired space. This also means that fire nature manipulation should never be attempted without basic shape manipulation.

_Wind Manipulation_: This one would be the easiest to describe, since it was explained in canon. I have already repeated the basic process of two grinding halves and I will focus on the other concepts that should be present in a shinobi's mind to successfully transform chakra into wind. They should be: movement, pervasiveness, encompassment and unbound propagation again. I will not lie to You, I know that the latter three concepts are variations of the first one but that is just it – they are variations, they are specifications. Pervasiveness is probably the second most important concept that needs to be kept in mind because "a blade of wind cannot be stopped". You know that with enough force wind is able to tear down a skyscraper (a badly-built one of course, but none the less). Encompassment and unbound propagation are also very similar to each other because the former is the result of the latter. Similarly to fire, the last concept has to be held in check but the situation is not so dangerous because wind is not concentrated like fire and its erratic movements are much less harmful. Therefore, it is possible to use wind nature manipulation without shape manipulation, if Your goal is to "just make some wind".

_Lightning Manipulation_: To give chakra the properties of lightning, the concepts a shinobi most likely has to apply are these: rapid linear movement, charge, piercing power and light. The rapid linear movement should be clear enough because natural lightning is a high-speed transfer of energy on a more-or-less direct trajectory. It also travels in bursts but it can be tamed into steady currents when it has some conductor medium. It is up to the shinobi to choose between a quick discharge or a longer lasting effect. The concept of charge is essential because lightning energy always follows two phases: accumulation and release. How much energy is built up and how it is released is up to the shinobi. The concept of piercing power is there because of what lightning is used for – drilling holes through everything. The concept of light can be called a "necessary evil", much like with fire, because the lightning energy cannot manifest itself without it. I theorised that to be able to produce lightning chakra, a shinobi has to "activate" the whole chakra system first to let the lightning pass harmlessly through. Without this, concentrating it into the palm would be dangerous and easily render the hand useless. Some shape manipulation is also needed to make the lightning chakra more harmful towards the targeted enemy because, as Kakashi explained, it gives it the discharging phase.

_Earth Manipulation_: My opinion is that earth nature manipulation by itself is pretty much useless and I will explain myself later. Now it is concept time again and I think the necessary ones are: dense concentration, stillness, palpability and firmness (totally expected). Similarly to wind, all of these concepts are in essence variations of each other but all have to be present to give sense to one another. The dense concentration is the basic one because for earth to be created, a whole lot of particles need to be gathered. However, I am reluctant to say that earth (and also water) nature manipulation is more chakra consuming than the others are. That would be unfair and disrupt the natural balance. To compensate for this, a way to provide the extra mass needs to be found. Breaking chakra at the molecular level is too far-fetched and would eventually serve nothing because the mass is constant. This leads me to believe that the focused chakra draws in molecules of weak bonds between each other. Some minerals could be procured from the shinobi's body as is probably the case when mud is created inside the larynx. Stillness is the concept that should follow the dense concentration because having chakra particles move about will not let You create a solid object. Palpability is where the concentration can end and it is up to the shinobi to choose how much more of it is needed beyond the state when the mass really "feels massive". The concept of firmness is the next significant stage of concentration but it needs to be achieved only when the shinobi wants to create more than mud. Now that the concepts have been explained, I should get back to the alleged uselessness of earth. It is because pure earth nature manipulation can only create unformed mud or scattered pebbles that the shinobi would just have to fling on the enemies. Shape manipulation is where it is at because shaping chakra that was transformed into earth can create pointy objects that can be used as weapons. This would be very useful if a shinobi ever runs out of all the shurikens, kunais and senbons.

_Water Manipulation_: This brings me back to where I started with Minato's imagined demonstration. You do remember, right? He was creating water out of his chakra and letting it flow off his palm and onto the ground. That looked a little uncool, did it not? Well, since I have already explained why earth is useless without shape manipulation and said that water is the same case, I will not repeat that. Instead, here is my take on the concepts necessary for water manipulation: concentration, movement, palpability and unbound propagation. There are no new concepts here, just some of the ones already presented and that is simply because I fail to find any more in water. Let's review how they contribute to creating water then, shall we? Concentration needs to be less emphasised than with earth because water is a liquid and not solid. It is only needed to the point where palpability is achieved. The movement of particles is slower than that of other elements besides earth, where it is undesirable. The last concept, that of unbound propagation, is there because, just like air and fire, water flows freely on its own and flow is where it finds itself at its strongest; stale water in a container can do very little. As You can see, water shares some traits with earth and the last one is the need for additional mass chakra needs to draw from the surroundings. In this aspect, water has it easier because there are already many water molecules in air.

_Yin & Yang Manipulation_: This is a tricky one. Although this is the reason why there are in fact six nature manipulations, it is not exactly an element. Also, I have absolutely no idea what simple concepts should be crucial to successfully create this element. The Yin & Yang is translated in Dattebayo fan-subs as "Light & Dark" (but it should be "Dark & Light") and this would propose the concepts of the same name to be necessary. However, I am reluctant to leave it at that or even accept it because the "Dark & Light" part is only another name and it would lead to misconceptions about the "good" and the "bad" side which is definitely not the case here. All I can say is that for a shinobi to use this manipulation, it is probably necessary to imagine and understand the situation that is true for everyone - that the whole chakra in the body is divided into two perfectly equal and opposite parts that are at the same time almost inseparable and infinitely intertwined. Once this process is over, step two is to let only one of the two sides show, as if the chakra were a coin that is lying on a surface so that only one side of it is visible. This means that calling upon both parts of this special element is equally difficult. As opposed to the other five nature manipulations, this one is neither potentially dangerous to the user nor requiring any additional mass. On the other hand, it is similar to earth and water manipulations because it cannot be used for attacking in its raw form and it needs to be complemented by a technique making use of it.

Phew, that will do it for nature manipulations and now it is time for shape manipulation. Needless to say, this will be shorter than nature manipulation because there is very little to it and there are no variations of it, just different uses. The exact Japanese term used in canon for it is "keitai henka". The exact symbols may be a problem because while I found those for nature manipulation on Narutopedia, I had to use online dictionaries to find the symbols for the term "shape". The result I came up with is 形態変化. If I had some raw scans of chapter 314, I would not need to worry but I am just too lazy to search for those so feel free to correct me if it is wrong.

What is shape manipulation? I feel really stupid for asking this but I have a certain way of doing things and I rarely change it. The answer to that question is that shape manipulation is a concentrated way of streaming the expelled chakra into a desired shape and at a certain speed. The speed is essential because chakra is energy and energy must flow. The shapes created are mostly short-lived and are used right after the moment they are formed. To create a semblance of steady solid objects through shape manipulation, it is necessary to make the chakra circulate around the outlines of the desired shape at high speeds; the higher the speed, the harder the object, and the larger the object, the more chakra is needed. The desired object can be both static and dynamic but the first association You make upon hearing this is wrong – static objects are not easier to create, it is actually the opposite. By static objects, I mean those that would have apparently unmoving surfaces and achieving that when chakra has to constantly flow seems nearly impossible. On the other hand, if anyone took their time to learn to form and maintain a static object from chakra, there would be hardly any use for it. For more than just battle purposes there are weapons, if a shinobi does not have any weapons at hand, fruits of Mother Nature can be taken; if a shinobi is in the middle of a bare wasteland, earth nature manipulation is always the answer because there is always earth. Additionally, the violent surfaces of dynamic solid chakra objects serve much better in combat.

Despite Kakashi saying in chapter 321 of the manga that regular shape manipulation has an A-rank acquisition difficulty level, I think that it is actually a lot easier than nature manipulation. I base this statement on the fact that Naruto was able to master the first two stages of learning the Rasengan in just a few days. He may be a whiz at learning fast when he wants to but he was able to make the water inside the balloon from the first step move right at the outset and it looked effortless. He was told what to do and he did it without hesitation. Managing a small cut on a leaf took him "more than a moment". Kakashi was probably talking about the difficulty of learning the complete Rasengan. Since You do not need to awaken one of the dormant natures in chakra when You practise shape manipulation, it takes a lot less mental effort. You begin with raw energy and You finish with it, the only important thing You do is giving it direction. I also think that shape manipulation is more versatile than nature manipulation. You can virtually achieve anything You desire with just shape manipulation but with nature manipulation, You only create the element. Although fire and lightning may have their uses in battle without some shape manipulation supporting them, a skilled shinobi knows better than to rely on it exclusively.

The only obvious uses of pure chakra shape manipulation I spotted on Naruto are: Rasengan, Ōdama Rasengan, Chō Ōdama Rasengan, Kabuto's Shōsen no Jutsu (the chakra scalpel), Hakkeshō Kaiten and Hinata's filler arc technique Shugohakke Rokujūyon Shō.  
Everyone should know that Rasengan is probably the highest form of shape manipulation. It consists of many thin chakra "threads" that flow at very high speeds and in numerous directions that are basically chaotic but are held in the shape of a controlled sphere. The other two versions are just bigger, deadlier and simply more badass.  
Kabuto's Shōsen no Jutsu is a cutting tool formed around his hand and he apparently has constant control of its sharpness and density. He used it in an attempt to cut open Tsunade's heart without inflicting any superficial wounds and he also used it to break Yamato's wooden Sasori disguise. It is multipurpose and a very good example of the versatility I mentioned.  
The Hyūga defensive technique Hakkeshō Kaiten is based on the ability to expel chakra evenly from the entire body, which is a talent any shinobi would have to develop over several lifetimes without Hyūga blood. The chakra is pushed outwards and spins around on the surface and the effect is reinforced by the rotation of the user. I have only seen Neji do it counter clockwise but I do not reject the clockwise alternative. The only way to go through this defence would be with the same speed and direction of rotation at the axis point, which is very unlikely for anyone to achieve. Anyone and anything approaching that sphere of defence will be pummelled and blown away.  
Hinata's Shugohakke Rokujūyon Shō could be dismissed without regret because it was created for filler purposes but it is popular among her fans and I am her fan as well so I decided to allow myself this guilty pleasure. With this technique, Hinata forms thin, straight, cutting threads that flow from the centres of her palms and by the rapid movement of her arms, she creates a sphere akin to Hakkeshō Kaiten. The surface of her defensive sphere looks more violent and she can keep it up for a long time but it comes at a price. It takes her longer to start it than it takes Neji to start Kaiten; her technique puts a lot of strain on the arms, while Kaiten puts equal pressure on the whole body and that is less harmful. On the other hand, the fact that she does not spin makes it easier to follow what is happening around her, although the Byakugan greatly reduces this possible downside of Kaiten.

To finally conclude this chapter and the whole matter of chakra usage, I need to address one more topic and that is the combination of shape and nature manipulations. I hope I will not take too long. To put it simply, it is a more complicated process than learning and practising the two separately because it requires "more than the sum of concentrations". However, mastering the very basic form of this combination should not be a problem for Chūnin level shinobis. Although I did voice my doubts in chapter 2 about Sasuke learning the Raikiri/Chidori in under a month, his potential was at about Chūnin level and I do consider him capable of such a feat in two months or more. Let's take Raikiri as our example. When Kakashi showed Naruto how it functions step by step, he started with the lightning nature manipulation and then complemented it with a little of shape manipulation to create the necessary discharge. Without it, the lightning created would still be harmful to the enemy but only to the point of minor electrocution; the discharge of the shape manipulation improves the piercing power and focus of the blow. If Kakashi used shape manipulation of the level present in Raikiri on its own, he would probably achieve even less than by just the nature manipulation part. Using both the shape and nature manipulated chakra of Raikiri one after the other would achieve only a little more than just the nature manipulation and never as much as an underpowered Raikiri.

Combining nature manipulation with shape manipulation of the Rasengan is considered by Kakashi to be of S-class acquisition difficulty level and here I agree with him. I believe that the difficulty of learning a combination of manipulations rises exponentially with the difficulty of each of them. Transforming the rapidly and erratically moving chakra of the Rasengan into wind took Naruto a few days of intensive training with 200 Kage Bunshins and he still has to use two other minds to help him with the concentration. Naruto is an exceptional shinobi because he has unreal chakra capacity with unreal replenishing rate and he is exceptionally quick to learn difficult techniques. A "normally exceptional" person with "normally exceptional" chakra capacity and with the same talent would take many years to achieve that. I do not think there is anything else that needs to be added. The process is hard as hell. When You understand the concepts of both manipulations, You understand the concept of their combination.

That would be all. Thank You for Your attention and patience and have a nice day!

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**Mission Accomplished:**

**Feel free to contest my theories and tell me if You think I have missed something. Believe me when I say that You would not want me to think that I am always right. I hope that the next topic I delve into will be a less technical one, although I cannot say I did not enjoy this.**

**Stay on the safe side!**


	5. The Rinnegan

**The Circle Connects:**

**I realised I had to make additions to the previous chapters when I was preparing for this one because I did not want my work to look inconsistent. I saw clearly that posting this chapter could happen only after making those additions to prepare some good ground for it. Pain's Rinnegan and he himself are probably the most interesting subjects for speculation right now and I hope that what I achieve here will answer some of the questions that might have arisen when reading the previous chapters.**

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Thoughts and Speculations Five: The Rinnegan

The topic for this chapter's speculative discussions is the Rinnegan, the most venerable dōjutsu of all. It was the cause that allowed the shinobi world to begin its existence and it was long thought lost until Jiraiya of the Sannin met a young boy from Amegakure called Nagato. That boy eventually became the man of immeasurable power who calls himself Pain.

The very first human known to possess the Rinnegan is known to history only by the monicker Rokudō Sennin, which means "the sage of the six paths or the six realms". The abilities the Rinnegan bestowed on this man and later helped him to acquire allowed him to create ninjutsu and lay the foundations for the shinobi world. There is a shadowy image if this man in chapter 373 of the manga and a variation of it appeared in chapter 425. Because the face is shrouded in complete darkness and the outline looks like a generic character, it is safe to say that there are no other known facts about him besides his feats and that he existed. Since there was no one else to possess the Rinnegan after him in the recorded history, the dōjutsu became the stuff of legends. The most cited ones are that the Rinnegan itself is considered a god of creation and that it can become both a tool of salvation and a weapon of ultimate destruction capable of annihilating the whole world in the hands of a human. This explains Pain's proclamations about being a god and the fear and reverence he inspires in others.

Now that the compulsory history lesson is over, it is time to delve into the known and confirmed abilities the possession of the Rinnegan entails. The first and foremost ability, the one that Jiraiya cites when he sees Nagato's strange eyes for the first time, is the complete control of all six chakra nature manipulations. When I previously talked about chakra affinities, I discarded this situation as humanly impossible but the Rinnegan obviously has this power. If it were otherwise, Jiraiya would not have witnessed it with his own eyes in the young Nagato and would have said something about legends being only legends. This ability is probably the most practical one because it allows the possessor to never be at a disadvantage and always be at an advantage in a fight. Whatever shinobi a Rinnegan possessor encounters, s/he will never be threatened by a superior elemental affinity and, instead, will always gain that superiority. It is also obvious that, with proper training, this complete elemental control will allow mastery of each of the six elements (fire, wind, lightning, earth, water and Yin & Yang) during the possessor's life. The question this ability poses is "What about the elemental fusions?" Since using any of the six elements should come as natural to a Rinnegan possessor as to a seasoned shinobi with a high affinity, this does not seem impossible. If Pain is ever seen using Mokuton, Hyōton or Yōton jutsus or some new fusion, I will not be surprised and I will have no problems accepting it. The first two fusions I mentioned are both kekkei genkai and the third one is a speciality of Yonbi. Rokudō Sennin was the first shinobi in history, the first one to use chakra, the man from whom everything else stems. All kekkei genkai should have their origin in his blood that was diluted and mixed through generations.

The second ability that Pain revealed to possess thanks to his Rinnegan is to see chakra, barriers and fields. It is not clear whether the motion-sensing field Jiraiya created to pinpoint where Pain and his chameleon summon were hiding was visible to the naked eye or if it was drawn only for the readers. Either way, when Pain begins attacking Konohagakure, he does see the security field around it. The general chakra-sensing ability is unclear, though. It has not yet been revealed what degree it reaches. Since my opinion is that every kekkei genkai has its origin in the Rinnegan, I think it should at least be able to see the general chakra flow like the Sharingan and that, with long and diligent practice, it should be possible to reach the specialised level of the Byakugan and see the chakra coils and tenketsus. However, learning how to copy jutsus, being able to predict movements by reading the muscle language, seeing through solid objects or around oneself in almost 360 degrees and gaining other abilities that developed through generations of evolution and inbreeding should be impossible for a Rinnegan possessor in one life. I do not think the Rinnegan provides generally better eyesight either.

The next ability Pain revealed was simultaneous control over multiple bodies with shared sensory information. The highest number of bodies Pain can control is six. This is closely connected to the etymology of the term "Rinnegan" and I shall explain it now and talk about the ability itself after that.

"Rinnegan" is composed of two parts: the "gan" of course means "eye" and the "rinne" is the Japanese term for the Buddhist concept Samsara. This makes the Rinnegan "the Samsara eye". Samsara is the cycle of birth, death and rebirth through which all living creatures pass on the way to eventual enlightenment and freedom from the constant pain the life inside the cycle causes. The cycle is divided into "six realms of suffering". The general Buddhist cosmology talks about "thirty-one paths of rebirth", which are essentially the same thing as the "six realms of suffering", and some forms of Buddhism talk about "ten spiritual realms" that comprise the "six realms of suffering" and "four noble realms". The concepts Kishimoto chose to use for the character Pain and his Rinnegan are: reincarnation, cycle, suffering, six realms and the number six itself.

Well then. Pain controls six bodies and he calls each of them after one of the realms. I will name them from the lowest realm to the highest realm. Jigokudō Pain is the man with an angular jaw, spiky hair and piercings on his cheeks in the shape similar to Itachi's wrinkles; he represents the "Naraka realm" ("Hell realm" in the manga) to which beings are reborn after accumulating strong hatred. Gakidō Pain is the chubby man with short straight hair and pointy piercings on his cheeks; he represents the "Preta realm" ("Hungry Ghost realm" in the manga) to which beings are reborn after committing to feelings of possessiveness and desire. Chikushōdō Pain was the very first Pain Jiraiya met, the same one Jiraiya was able to kill and send to Konohagakure for research. The new Chikushōdō Pain is the sole woman of the group, she was the one who to invade the village first; she represents the "Animal realm" (it is the same) to which beings are reborn after acting too stupid and prejudiced. Ningendō Pain is the man with long straight hair and a large sideways piercing in his nose; he represents the "Human realm" (it is the same) which is governed by the feelings of passion, desire, doubt, and pride. Shuradō Pain is the strange, big, almost inhuman-like looking man with pointy piercings on the top of his head; he represents the "Asura realm" ("Demon realm" in the manga) to which beings are reborn after being jealous, struggling or committing bad actions through good intentions. The last one is Tendō Pain - he is the one who has Yahiko's body, talks the most and acts like the leader of the group; he represents the "Deva realm" ("God realm" in the manga) to which beings are reborn after accumulating enough good karma but they will inevitably waste it there because of the blissful nature of the realm and return to one of the lower realms, thus failing to achieve nirvana.

Each one of the Rokudō Pain ("six paths of pain" or "six realms of pain") has a distinct ability that is usually conceptually connected to the realm they represent:

1) Jigokudō Pain has the ability to revive the dead. I assume this only works with the other Pains but the possibility of being able to resurrect "normal" beings cannot be dismissed. There may also be a limit on how long can Jigokudō Pain take to get to a dead body and bring it back to life. However, since Orochimaru's Edo Tensei brought back two men who were dead for many years, I would assume that the souls of the dead are lingering in this world and can be called upon if they have not yet been reborn. Another speculation is that this resurrecting ability is not exclusive to this Pain because the concept of rebirth is present throughout the whole of Samsara but he has not shown any other abilities yet and that makes me think that this one IS exclusive to him.  
2) Gakidō Pain's ability is to absorb chakra not only in its raw form but also in the form of jutsus, an ability very similar to that of Akadō Yoroi, one of Yakushi Kabuto's teammates in the Chūnin Exams. This absorption ability of his is so strong that he was able to consume Jiraiya's massive Chō Ōdama Rasengan without being injured by it. It seems very fitting for the "Hungry Ghost" Pain to be the "sponge" of the group.  
3) Chikushōdō Pain's ability is Kuchiyose no Jutsu. The summoning is not limited to animals though, as it was this very Pain who brought two others to the fight with Jiraiya and was able to call upon the rest in the nick of time before Jiraiya killed the group of three through the cooperative genjutsu. This ability was also the reason why the replacement Chikushōdō Pain was the one to lead the invasion of Konohagakure. Kuchiyose no Jutsu is normally possible only after a contract is signed but this Pain summoned animals of several kinds and the female replacement who came very soon had no trouble doing the same either. This would indicate that the Rinnegan already has the authority to summon without any formal agreements or that the summoned animals are separate from the usual summons. However, I strongly believe that the ability to summon human beings is limited to the other Pains and summoning "normal" humans would most likely require signing a real contract.  
4) Ningendō Pain's main ability is a very uninteresting one - it is taijutsu specialisation. The other ability he revealed to possess looked like soul extraction. Check chapter 419 of the manga to see how he pulls out a "ghost" out of a Konoha ninja, thus instantly killing him. The taijutsu can easily be related to the "Human realm" of Samsara but the soul extraction would make more sense if it were possessed by Jigokudō Pain.  
5) Shuradō Pain is more like a machine than a human. His ability is to detach and launch parts of his body like missiles and those missiles can even explode. Either that or he has regular explosive missiles stored inside of his body like a jet fighter. Because of this, he is also able to withstand great physical damage. The Asuras of the realm this Pain represents are demigods or, like the scanlation puts it, demons and such an unnatural ability seems fitting, although that is where my understanding runs out. I cannot see any other connection beyond the unnaturalness. If this Pain ever appears in battle again, I would not be surprised if it were revealed that he could also remotely control the detached body parts.  
6) Tendō Pain has shown the widest range of abilities out of the Rokudō Pain. He was the one who summoned the statue that houses the extracted Bijū, he operated the astral projections of other Akatsuki members, he has control over the Shōten Jutsu which uses sacrifices to make perfect clones and his Shinra Tensei allows him to both repel and attract objects and jutsus. Some sources say that he has Yahiko's excellent water affinity but I do not remember seeing him perform any Suiton jutsus. Since this Pain represents the realm of "gods", I see it as no wonder that he is the most able one of the group.

There are some abilities that all of the Rokudō Pain share. The most apparent one is that all of them have the Rinnegan for eyes, which means that all of them should be able to sense barriers and fields and see chakra. Since both Chikushōdō and Tendō Pains could do it, I presume it is indeed a shared ability. Another ability is the sharing of their sense of sight – what one Pain sees, all the others see – which allows them to cover more ground in battle, watch out for each other and fill in the blanks in case one of them loses his or her sight. The only way to effectively counter that is to separate them and blind them one by one. It is not clear whether this sharing is limited only to the sense of sight or if it covers the other four senses as well. Sharing the sight is enough to overpower majority of sneaky enemies and the Rinnegan is a dōjutsu, an eye technique, which would indicate the limitation to the sense of sight, but I cannot completely dismiss the possibility that at least two other important senses – hearing and smell – are shared as well. Sharing touch and taste would be useless in battle. The third ability is not exactly an ability but more another characteristic of the Rokudō Pain – they share one consciousness, that of the real Pain who commands them from behind the scenes. This means that what one Pain learns, the others will learn as well, or that no matter which Pain is present, s/he would always say the same things or ask the same questions. The lines "We are Pain! We are God!" where plural becomes singular are a proof of that. The last shared ability I know of is the speculated resurrection ability and I have already covered that above.

Furthermore, the animals Chikushōdō Pain summons have the Rinnegan and black metal piercings just like him and the others. This leads me to believe that they too are able to share vision between themselves and with the other Pains but I would not go as far as saying that they also share that one consciousness. The summoned animals may not have given any clues to having shared senses but there has not been anything to disprove this assumption yet.

Now is the right time to talk about those peculiar piercings each one of the Rokudō Pain has. The first thought that comes to mind is whether the layout of the piercings is important or if it is just a character design choice. The latter seems to be the case because the original Chikushōdō Pain and his female replacement have their piercings laid out differently. I consider that a disappointment because if the former had been true, this whole matter would have been more systematic, easier and more interesting to decipher and describe. Now that the fashion sense question is out of the way, the more important and pragmatic "What is up with those piercings anyway?" question can be answered. Well, I think the researchers in Konohagakure are getting close to it but their problem is that they have not seen what the readers have seen. They have only uncovered that the black metal is a chakra receiver. The fact is, in my opinion, that this black metal is KEY to the shared abilities and consciousness. Pain uses dead bodies for his six-man army and I am sure that if he could do without the crazy piercings and thus make his minions less conspicuous, he would do so. I think that without that black metal the Rokudō Pain would not be possible. This means that commanding the avatars of the six realms is something the Rinnegan allows but does not ensure.

Take a break and look at the beginning of chapter 381 of the manga. The soon to be dead and dissected Chikushōdō Pain breaches Jiraiya's protective barrier and manages to pierce (the verb is totally appropriate here) his shoulder with a long stick made of black metal. It is not a sword and it does not seem sharp or to have at least a sharpened point, it is merely a stick and there is no reason to use a stick in battle, unless it is a bo staff, which this stick apparently is not. Moments after Jiraiya is struck, he feels a very strange and unpleasant sensation and Pain's Rinnegan eyes appear above him, which symbolises that Pain has invaded his mind. Fukasaku acts quickly and pulls the stick out. A similar situation happens in chapter 420. It is not very visible because of the black & white colour scheme but Tendō Pain plunges the black metal stick into Kakashi's left shoulder when said man wants to plunge a Raikiri into his face. Kakashi's reaction is the same as Jiraiya's and he pulls away only a few seconds later. These two happenings lead me to the conclusion that the black metal piercings indeed are the medium that allows the real Pain to transmit his powers and consciousness into different bodies and give them the Rinnegan.

The last question that remains is "Why are there so many of them?" I think the answer to that is very pragmatic. Pain was able to invade Jiraiya and Kakashi's minds through the black metal but it was only a brief flash and they could hold their ground. Pain's six-man army has their bodies riddled with pieces of the black metal simply to allow better transmission and easier control. If the piercings are removed, the real Pain will lose control of that body and that is one way to defeat the Rokudō Pain. The other is the good old smash-them-to-bits way. However, since I have established this as a fact, I now need to put it in accordance with the assumption that Pain can control only a maximum of six bodies at a time. Invading someone's mind and incapacitating them, probably to steal some information, somehow has to weaken the control over the acting body and leave it more vulnerable to other attacks but the usual strategy is probably to have other Pains watch out for the acting one. Completely transferring control from the acting body to the impaled one looks impossible because there is only one piercing and the impaled body still has a consciousness of its own that would battle Pain to retain its dominance. That has to be the reason why dead bodies are used – they cannot struggle.

Now that I have explained some of the mysteries about Pain himself, I should return to discussing the other abilities of the Rinnegan. One thing that has bothered me since the plan for world domination was announced was how would the Akatsuki go about controlling the Bijū. It has been said at least once that the Mangekyō Sharingan allows its possessor to control the power of Kyūbi, the most powerful one of all nine Bijū. The Rinnegan is easily the superior dōjutsu, I presume it is the origin of all kekkei genkai and the legends call it a "god" (of all creation). Pain would not plan to harness the power of the Bijū if he did not have a tool for that. That tool is either Madara and his Mangekyō, because it would make sense for him to be able to control the other inferior Bijū as well, or it is Pain's Rinnegan because it is superior to the Mangekyō and allowed him to summon the statue that holds the captured Bijū. Or it could be both. My guess is that the Rinnegan DOES allow its possessor to control any and all Bijū.

Another mystery of the Rinnegan is how one comes to activate it. The legend of Rokudō Sennin says nothing about how he acquired the Rinnegan so the only clue to this is Nagato. Nagato's eyes are obscured on all occasions except for when he is engaged in battle or training or when Jiraiya is remembering him with the Rinnegan in mind. My first assumption was that Nagato awakened his Rinnegan only when he and Yahiko were attacked by that Iwagakure Chūnin. That would be similar to Sharingan that also needs to be awakened in the heat of battle. Nagato himself said that "he got real, real mad" and "that he blacked out and came to only when the guy was dead". However, since his eyes had not been revealed prior to that fateful confrontation, I have no proof for this assumption and cannot exclude the possibility that Nagato's eyes always had the characteristic concentric circles. His blacking out could just mean that his body finally took notice of its hidden abilities and the sudden surge of power and tearing emotions overwhelmed him. Your guess is as good as mine here. I like to think that since the Rinnegan has practically disappeared from the face of the earth for many generations, Nagato had normal eyes and indeed awakened his Rinnegan that night and had it "permanently activated" since then.

The cosmetic aspect of the Rinnegan seems worth mentioning as well. Look at the "modern" rendition of the Rinnegan; it has already been shown in the anime, too. If You regard the pupil of the eye as the first circle that delimits the first circular field, then there are enough circles to divide the eye into six circular fields. Look closely, squint Your eyes and You will see it. So the Rinnegan eye is divided into six segments and it would not be an exaggeration to assert that the segments represent the six realms of suffering. The pupil would be the "Deva realm", the field around it would be the "Asura realm" and the farthest field would be the "Naraka realm" with the ones in between corresponding to the other three realms. The circle as a shape is also a perfect symbol for perpetuity, eternity and rebirth.

Since I have nothing else to say about the Rinnegan at the moment, I will stop here. I think the amount of information presented here is not small but it can definitely be expanded. Thank You for Your attention!

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**The Circle Breaks:**

**Although I have written a lot, in my own authoritative eyes, I think I have written very little. The Rinnegan and Pain are still largely unexplored in canon and if anything new arises, I will come back and amend this chapter. Nonetheless, I hope I have given You something to think about with this. The next chapter is going to be about another dōjutsu because it is only fair. You can guess which one but I think it is obvious.**

**Stay on the safe side!**


	6. The Mangekyō Sharingan

**The Pieces of the Puzzle:**

**Hello and welcome to yet another edition of my deranged ranting! As I promised You at the end of the previous chapter, this one is going to focus on another dōjutsu, namely the Mangekyō Sharingan. If You are asking me why not do the whole Sharingan, then my answer is that there is very little to nothing left for speculation concerning the "regular" Sharingan. On the other hand, the Mangekyō presents more than enough opportunities for speculation.**

**I have to warn You though. A good part of this is based on what Madara and Itachi told Sasuke and on the assumption that they were not lying.**

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Thoughts and Speculations Six: The Mangekyō Sharingan

The status of the Mangekyō Sharingan can be considered legendary because of its rarity, mysteriousness and power. It is not quite on the same level in this aspect as the Rinnegan because, frankly, nothing is but mentioning it in shinobi circles definitely inspires awe and respect. It is the final form of Uchiha clan's famed kekkei genkai that only five people ever achieved. They are, in order of acquisition, Madara, Izuna, Itachi, Kakashi and Sasuke. Since only one of these people, Kakashi, is not an Uchiha and he is referred to by his given name most of the time, I shall use only the given names of all Mangekyō Sharingan possessors.

According to what Itachi told Sasuke in chapter 385, Madara was the very first Uchiha to fully develop his kekkei genkai. The second person who achieved this feat was none other than Madara's very own bother, Izuna. The way Itachi told Sasuke the tale of the two brothers would indicate that they acquired their Mangekyōs in quick succession. Both Madara and Izuna were very skilled and regarded as the best amongst the Uchihas. Their development kept them on the same level, which would mean that they probably awakened their Sharingans at roughly the same time and also passed its evolution stages more or less simultaneously. I suspect that what Itachi said is true, that Madara indeed was the first of the two brothers to acquire the Mangekyō and I also suspect that he was the first in mostly everything, with Izuna following close behind. Madara is the evil one here and not only because of what his name means and it would make sense to me for him to be the first to taste the sweet, sweet power and fall prey to its corruption.

The third person to acquire the Mangekyō was the first person we saw present and use it, Sasuke's elder brother, Itachi. Although the method of how to acquire the Mangekyō became known after Madara and Izuna had achieved it, it took many decades of further trial and error for another Uchiha, Itachi, to emerge successful. After he slaughtered his fellow clansmen, it looked like there would be only one other person who would have the ability to develop the Mangekyō.

However, the fourth person to acquire the Mangekyō was not the one Itachi spared but his sensei; the only one of the quintuple to not be an Uchiha, Kakashi. Well, technically it was not only Kakashi but also his late friend Obito who got to the peak of Uchiha evolution. One could argue that it was only half a person or two people but let's not go there. Obito provided one eye and some essential blood, whilst Kakashi acted as the vessel that would develop and eventually perfect the gift. I wonder if Obito felt proud of his valiant friend, watching him from the Aether surpass many great Uchihas.

The last person to acquire the Mangekyō was Itachi's chosen one, his baby brother, Sasuke. Depending on whether or not he manages to eventually restore the Uchiha clan, he may very well indeed by the last one to reach that goal. Nevertheless, it seems that Sasuke obtained the Mangekyō reluctantly. He insisted on defying Itachi's "advice" and finding his own way of obtaining the strength necessary to defeat him – a way that would do without the acquisition of the Mangekyō. He partially succeeded because he managed to defeat Itachi without it but subsequently found himself in possession of it.

Well then, how exactly did these five men came into possession of this powerful tool? If I were in the possession of the secret scrolls hidden in the main temple of the Nakano shrine, I could tell You straight away but since I am not, I will have to speculate and base this off Itachi's words, events known from the manga and basic Sharingan facts. Itachi told Sasuke that the requirement to obtain the Mangekyō is killing Your closest friend. Since Itachi with the highest probability did kill Shisui, who was a very close friend and comrade of his, I do not doubt that Itachi did indeed obtain the Mangekyō this way. However, the ways through which the other members of the quintuple, sans Sasuke, obtained it are unknown and should be somewhat different from Itachi's method. Because Kakashi did not have a close friend to kill, the exact and universal method is probably simpler and less brutal.

I suspect that the method for obtaining the Mangekyō can be boiled down to extreme mental stress combined with great physical exertion. The same, only in a smaller dose, is needed to awaken the Sharingan and then to develop it through its commonly achieved stages. In Itachi's case, the mental stress came from the fact that he killed the person closest to him, barring his immediate family, with his own hands and from what he was about to do after that. The physical exertion was provided by Shisui who was at that time lauded as the most skilled Uchiha. He certainly did not go down without a fight.

Sasuke was the only member of the quintuple whose way towards the Mangekyō was faithfully recorded and presented to us on the pages of the manga. He obtained it after an arduous fight to the death with his brother Itachi and being forced to listen to Madara's tale of the Uchiha clan's demise. The battle drained him of almost all of his chakra and he looked to be on the verge of death. He saw it as not just killing his own brother but also the man largely responsible for his screwed up life. I would say that was enough mental stress but even if it was not, Madara's revelations surely did the trick. No matter how defiant and adamant Sasuke wanted to be, the little hesitations between Madara's words and his comebacks indicate that he gave it some thought and benefit of the doubt.

How Madara and his younger brother Izuna obtained their Mangekyōs is a mystery but logic would indicate that they both indeed found some people they were close to and killed them. However, I do not hesitate to say that it was most likely unintentional, at least on Madara's part, who was the first of the duo. Since both Madara and Izuna were the very first possessors of the Mangekyō, the Uchiha clan probably was not even aware that their kekkei genkai could be developed beyond the three-tomoe mature stage. The turbulent times before the system of Elemental Countries with one Hidden Village was established were probably rife with slaughter and fratricide more so than the current times and Madara and Izuna's position of power and influence was likely constantly targeted and contested. As to who exactly the brothers killed and what brought up the confrontation could be speculated upon for hours on end but I suspect that it was the people immediately below (or even above) the brothers in the chain of command of the Uchiha clan and that they had been through thick and thin together. The people who "served" the brothers' evolution either betrayed them in an attempt of a coup d'état or tried to assassinate them or both. My money is on the "both" alternative but Your guess is as good as mine, if not better.

Now we have come to the last person of the quintuple, the fourth in order of acquisition, Kakashi. I remember having read a fan-fic called "How It Could Have Happened" by lorelessbison, which was a very pathetic attempt at a humorous take on how Kakashi came into possession of his Mangekyō. I will not go there, I need to be serious here. Since the people Kakashi regarded as his closest friends were all already gone, at least that is what he told Sasuke, he had to have acquired his Mangekyō in a "regular" battle. When I was trying to think up a mentally and physically exhausting scenario for Kakashi, I came up with this. During the time-skip, he was probably sent on a long, solo, undercover, reconnaissance S-rank or A-rank mission to the Earth Country that may have lead him through the locales visited in Kakashi Gaiden. The enemy Iwa shinobi he encountered were probably "old acquaintances" out for blood and money. Since Kishimoto frequently uses the concept "history repeats itself", I think it is safe to say that the battle or battles Kakashi went through conjured up memories of that fateful night, especially those of Obito being crushed under a pile of boulders. Being a long way from home, in a hostile territory, engaged in a high-level battle and the demons of his past catching up to him once again was probably enough for Kakashi's left eye to evolve.

As You can see, I do not subscribe to the theory that "killing Your closest friend" is the only way of obtaining the Mangekyō. The situation is different for every Sharingan possessor. Just imagine an Uchiha with no real friends, not even among his or her clansmen, and with no immediate family. Such a person would inevitably have to find a different way of ascending the Uchiha evolution ladder. Of course, since there were only five people in recorded history who achieved it, his or her chances would be terribly close to zero but still not completely inexistent. Kakashi may be an excellent shinobi, a genius in his own right, but he was not an Uchiha, the Sharingan was implanted into him and, as I have mentioned, he did not have any friends to kill. He should be a good enough proof.

Now that the matter of acquiring the Mangekyō Sharingan has been thoroughly dealt with, it is time to discuss its cosmetic aspect. Every one of the six Mangekyō layouts that were presented in the manga has two common features. The first one is that they are all constructed from three points that previously were the three tomoes of the mature Sharingan positioned at the angle of 120 degrees between themselves and the other one is that those three points are joined in a circular pattern. The word "mangekyō" means "kaleidoscope" and also "mirror of 10 000 flowers", at least that is what the scanlation of chapter 385 says. Mangekyō Sharingan means the "kaleidoscope copy-wheel eye" and that speaks for itself. The transformation from regular Sharingan to Mangekyō takes the three tomoes and joins them in one uniform organised circle that at the same time retains the features of being a sum of its parts. I suspect Kishimoto may have drawn from the catholic principle of trinity, or triunity, here. Since most of the inspiration for the Rinnegan came from Buddhism, which is also a religion "alien" to Japan, and since Christianity has been present in Japan for a few hundred years, I think it does not sound that far-fetched. The three tomoes become one new entity and the one cannot exist without the three.

Out of all the six individual designs, I think that Itachi's Mangekyō looks the coolest. The three tomoes form a pattern that looks like a curved black shuriken with three points. It looks as if his pupil disappeared and was replaced by a "red hole" in the centre of the "shuriken". It is as if his eyes became hollow, colder, less human and definitely more menacing. This design is the best at emphasising the fact that the Mangekyō is a powerful ninja tool to be feared because it looks like a weapon. My second favourite design is Kakashi's/Obito's. Similarly to Itachi's Mangekyō, the tomoes form three black triangular points but they are not curved. Instead, from the tips of the triangles extend shapes akin to scythe blades and those connect the tips in a circle. The central part is also a "red hole". Kakashi's Mangekyō is definitely more elegant and intricate than Itachi's but it looks less menacing. I would go as far as saying that looking into Kakashi's Mangekyō would be pleasant, whilst looking into Itachi's would not be pleasant at all.

Sasuke's Mangekyō has probably the weirdest design out of all six. I have to confess that when I first saw his new eyes at the end of chapter 402, I did not make the connection. Seriously, those eyes being his new Mangekyō Sharingan was the last thing on my mind at that moment and it was only later when he used Tsukuyomi that I understood what was going on. I have not yet seen it officially coloured but that does not make deciphering the pattern that hard. The most apparent unique part of Sasuke's Mangekyō design is that the field, the iris, is not read but it is black. On that black field there are three pointy ellipses with black outlines that form a six-point red star. Contrary to Itachi and Kakashi, Sasuke's pupil is present at the centre of the pattern, instead of there being a "red hole". Although Sasuke's design still retains the feature of being composed of three parts, the individual tomoes are completely lost in it without a trace. Another thing that strikes me as unusual is that there is no defined circle. The intersections of the ellipses do form a shape akin to a circle around the pupil but that is only an approximation. Itachi's Mangekyō may lack a real circle as well but the "blades of the shuriken" are at least curved to invoke a sense of rotation. Unlike with the other designs, it is hard to imagine how exactly Sasuke's is formed. Furthermore, the more I look at it the more I find Sasuke's Mangekyō cute. Although Sasuke's "star" looks like a shuriken more than Itachi's Mangekyō in terms of outline, I do not find it unsettling at all.

Izuna's Mangekyō design is the blandest and least cool, in my opinion. It is just one thick black circle with a "red hole" in the centre and three thick black lines going outwards. I know I should blame Kishimoto instead of Izuna but that does not change anything. Madara's design, on the other hand is much more elegant. The tail parts of the three tomoes connected with the round parts of the neighbouring tomoes, creating a circle, whilst the round parts became hollowed out so there are three "red holes" on the circle. Just like with Sasuke's design, the pupil remains in the centre. These two designs combined to create Madara's eternal (or ultimate or final) Mangekyō Sharingan. That one retained all of Madara's features and the only influence Izuna's design had on it was the addition of the three thick lines going outwards from where the "red holes" were situated. I think that happened because it was Madara who "consumed" Izuna. Had it been the other way around, I assume that Izuna's design would be altered only by the addition of three "red holes" inside the black of his thick circle at the bases of the thick lines. Now that I think about it, that one would have been pretty scary.

If I am not mistaken, Kishimoto stated in the latest character data book that the Mangekyō Sharingan has a different design for everyone who attains it. I should not argue with "the God of all Naruto creation" but I feel I have to. The most glaring fact is that there were only five people with Mangekyōs and only six designs so far. Everyone should know that proving that something is wrong is much easier than proving that something is true. If You had a kaleidoscope as a child or still have one, You know that by turning it around You can get a great number of beautiful patterns. However, You have to admit that the number of possible combinations is finite. Because of that I think there is also a limited number of Mangekyō designs. You can use the counter-argument that since the Mangekyō Sharingan is a creation of Nature and not Man, the possibilities of its patterns should be endless due to the never-ending evolution and mutation. You can say that there may be hundreds, thousands or even millions of them. However, even if there are millions of them, I still think the number is finite here.

The other distinctive aspect of the Mangekyō is the powers that are bestowed upon its possessor. Just like the designs, they should be unique to every individual and limited in number. Those of You who have read the first chapter of this journal know that I think that the range of ninjutsu, genjutsu and fūinjutsu is unlimited. You are probably wondering why did I make the sudden 180 degree turn and why do I now assert that the number of techniques that can be obtained through the Mangekyō is limited. Well, I have started to doubt this myself but I decided to persevere. I think that the key problem with this is that the Mangekyō is limited to the Uchiha blood; I cannot say to the Uchiha clan because we all know about Kakashi. For a kekkei genkai to be strong, the blood must not be diluted too much. Over the ages and countless generations, the Uchiha clan developed a certain genetic make-up that is present in every member. That make-up made them look distinctive to the point when You can just look at a person and say "that is an Uchiha" or "that is not an Uchiha". That make-up made them fire specialists to the point that a child with a different affinity is a rarity. Kishimoto does not draw the Uchihas so similar to each other because he lacks creativity. I believe he does it because of this reason and maybe others unknown to me. This is Nature's problem. Overall and all around she can create countless life forms but when she is isolated and engineered, she can and will produce only limited results. That is my main reason why I believe that there is a limit to both the designs and the powers of the Mangekyō Sharingan.

I think there may also be a connection between the outward appearance of the Mangekyō and the powers it provides. It is time to use combinatorics again so do not say I did not warn You. Let me be generous and presume that there are 500 techniques in total that the Mangekyō can give its possessor. Of course, that person only has access to three out of the five hundred (see below). The simplest scenario is that the order of those three techniques does matter so for example a combination like 1-58-423 would be different from 423-1-58. In this case, the number of all possible combinations would be very high - 500x498x497 equals 124251000. That would be almost 125 million possible Mangekyō designs and that is A LOT but still a finite number.

You are now probably curious about the actual powers of the Mangekyō. Well, this is the best time to start talking about them. Studying Itachi closely, I discovered that the Mangekyō most likely gives its possessor three techniques and nothing more. One of these techniques is cast by the left eye, another by the right eye and the third one by both eyes at the same time. Correct me if I am wrong but there does not seem to be any other possible combination. I also think that there may be a connection between the number of techniques and the number of tomoes, since they are both three. Before the technique can be cast, the Mangekyō possessor needs to close the respective eye (or both eyes if s/he wants to cast the third technique) and focus chakra. The technique is then cast the moment the eye opens. This can be problematic because limiting even one of the senses (creating a blind spot) during battle can prove fatal, although the requirements to obtain the Mangekyō are so demanding that the possessor should already be skilled enough to eliminate this setback.

Itachi was the only one who we have seen perform all three techniques from his arsenal. I am sure that all of You know them well, although his third technique is known only to those who follow the manga; however, my ranting presumes that You are following the manga so it should not be a problem. Itachi's first technique is cast by his left eye and is called Tsukuyomi, which is the god of Moon from the Shinto pantheon. With this high-level genjutsu, Itachi is able to capture his victim in an illusion simply by locking eyes and the illusion lasts for 72 hours in the victim's mind, whilst in the real world it lasts only a few seconds. Itachi is the undisputed ruler of that illusory world and can do anything he pleases to the victim, including something pleasurable if he so chooses.

Itachi's second technique is cast by his right eye and is called Amaterasu, which is the goddess of Sun from the Shinto pantheon; she is Tsukuyomi's sister. According to one of the myths, Amaterasu shunned Tsukuyomi after he killed Uke Mochi and this was how night and day were separated and why the two siblings never saw each other ever again. I think this myth is one of the reasons why Kishimoto chose to name Itachi's one-eyed techniques that way. All right, back to shinobi reality. Amaterasu is a high-level Katon ninjutsu that creates all-consuming, inextinguishable black flames that converge on the spot where Itachi looks. With this technique, he can literally set things on fire with his mind.

The third and final technique, which we saw Itachi use only once, is cast with both eyes and is called Susano'o, which is the god of Sea and Storms from the Shinto pantheon; he is brother to Tsukuyomi, whom he eventually killed, and Amaterasu. I would classify this technique as a Kuchiyose because it conjures a semi-solid, demon-like creature that both protects Itachi with the Yata mirror and attacks his opponents with the Totsuka sword. This is another form of ultimate defence but unlike Gaara's sand and the Hyūgas' Hakkenshō Kaiten it actually is flawless, since it managed to protect Itachi even from that bolt of lightning. When Zetsu witnesses Itachi use Susano'o, he immediately recognises the two mythical items and notes that Orochimaru was searching for Totsuka no Tsurugi, since it is the only weapon capable of countering his Kusanagi no Tsurugi. The god Susano'o used Totsuka no Tsurugi to defeat the eight-headed serpent Yamata no Orochi and Itachi used the technique Susano'o to defeat Orochimaru's Yamata no Jutsu, draw him out of Sasuke and seal him away. I suspect he used this technique even during the Uchiha Massacre.

Although Kishimoto did a great job with naming these techniques and a raising interest in the Shinto mythology, I cannot understand why he switched Tsukuyomi and Amaterasu's positions. All three god-siblings were born when Izanagi washed his face clean of the grime of Yomi, the underworld. Tsukuyomi was born out of right eye and Amaterasu was born from the left eye, whilst Susano'o was born when Izanagi washed his nose. I shall return to this for a bit when I get to Sasuke's techniques.

Kakashi has been seen using only one Mangekyō technique and I think he cannot do any others because he has only one eye. The technique is called Kamui, which is the ancient Ainu term very close in meaning to the Japanese "kami" and it stands for a god, a deity or a divine spirit. Unlike with Itachi's techniques, there is no connection between the name and what the technique does, or at least I do not see it. Kakashi's Kamui is a space-time ninjutsu that targets what he focuses on with his Mangekyō and then sends it into another dimension. Which dimension precisely is not important but it can be the same dimension where sealed items are stored. It may have seemed that targeting Kamui is a lot of work but keep in mind that both Deidara and Kakashi were moving during the pursuit and that Kakashi had to keep his normal eye closed so his depth perception was not perfect. When Kakashi transported Deidara's exploding Nendo Bunshin, his only problem was accumulated exhaustion.

The true extent of Sasuke's Mangekyō is yet unknown and he can have anywhere between three and six techniques at his disposal. He was seen using only two techniques so far and both were the same as Itachi's: Tsukuyomi and Amaterasu. Only now, Sasuke uses Tsukuyomi with his right eye and Amaterasu with his left eye, which corresponds with the myths better. If we suppose that Madara was right when he said: "Somehow, at the last second, he transferred all his eye techniques into You," Sasuke should also have Susano'o at his disposal. The big argument here is whether Tsukuyomi and Amaterasu are really gifts from Itachi or if they are Sasuke's own techniques that came with his Mangekyō. If that were true, then there still could be a connection between the outward appearance of the Mangekyō and the powers it bestows upon its possessor but Sasuke would have only four techniques at the most: Tsukuyomi, Amaterasu, Susano'o and possibly his own two-eyed technique. In addition, it would be an argument in favour of my theory that there is only a limited arsenal of techniques the Mangekyō gives. However, since Sasuke is the second most important character in Narutoverse and since Naruto has grown extremely powerful, I suspect that he does have six Mangekyō techniques at his disposal, three from Itachi and three of his own. Trying to guess which technique would do what is somewhat pointless but if Itachi's repertoire is a blueprint for the arsenal that comes with a Mangekyō, then Sasuke's own techniques should be another genjutsu, another ninjutsu and either another Kuchiyose or a fūinjutsu. I did classify Susano'o as a Kuchiyose but it also had some sealing abilities.

I need to take a break from listing the individual abilities of the Mangekyō possessors and return to combinatorics again. I said that the simplest scenario takes into account the order of the techniques, which means what eye would cast which technique. If we assume that Sasuke has only Itachi's Mangekyō techniques, the difference between their designs would boil down to the fact that Sasuke uses different eyes for Tsukuyomi and Amaterasu, while Susano'o would remain the two-eyed technique. If the scenario was a bit more complicated in that the order of the three techniques out of five hundred would not matter, the number of possible combinations would diminish and it would be the binominal coefficient or "n over k". The result would be 20708500 - a little over 20 million possible Mangekyō designs. That is still a lot but it is also a lot less than 125 million.

However, I do not want to stop here. While it is apparent that the one-eyed techniques can be assigned to a random eye, as Sasuke proved, and that they should be equally demanding, the two-eyed techniques should be much more demanding and always assigned to both eyes, meaning that Susano'o cannot be used by only one eye. Therefore, let's assume that a certain number of those 500 theoretic Mangekyō techniques are exclusively two-eyed techniques. I think You will agree with me that one third of the whole, 166 techniques, would be a good guess and that the remaining 334 techniques would be one-eyed. In this case, the number of possible combinations would be 334x333x166, which is any combination of two one-eyed techniques paired with a random two-eyed technique. The result would be 18462852 possible Mangekyō designs. 18 and a half million may be very close to 20 million but it is still less and finite. I think that this scenario is the most likely of all. Of course, there is still the fact that Madara's eternal Mangekyō looks the way it does because it absorbed Izuna's and there is also a possibility that Sasuke's Mangekyō design was influenced by Itachi's gift. This would create billions upon billions other combinations and I get a headache just thinking about it. Maybe I should just give up and say that the number of Mangekyō designs is indeed infinite. However, when it comes to the actual techniques, I still think that their number is limited.

Now that the mathematical tangent is over, it is time to return to listing the Mangekyō powers. Izuna's three Mangekyō techniques are a complete mystery and there is absolutely nothing that could allow me to even guess. However, we may see them in the future because all of them should be alive in Madara's eyes. Madara himself can have up to seven techniques. If all of his own three techniques were different from Izuna's, he would have six at his disposal like Sasuke probably does but he even has one extra technique. Itachi says in chapter 386 that when Madara took his brother's eyes, it created a brand new technique. I strongly suspect that this mysterious technique is in fact the ability to suppress Kyūbi's malevolent chakra and control it. I am not exactly sure how to classify it but I think it can be called a fūinjutsu. Itachi also told Sasuke that this technique was made possible only by the fact that Madara took his brother's eyes, meaning someone from his immediate family. He may have just been full of himself but controlling Kyūbi is a monumental feat so obtaining such ability should be limited by similar severe restrictions.

This whole "controlling Kyūbi business" should be looked into a bit more. When Sasuke was sightseeing in Naruto's mindscape, he and Kyūbi had a little friendly conversation and the demon revealed that Sasuke's chakra felt almost as sinister as that of Madara. Sasuke then unceremoniously grabbed Kyūbi's nozzle, twisted it and dispersed the chakra that was leaking from the cage. This would indicate that even the regular mature Sharingan should be able to suppress Kyūbi's chakra as well at some level. I say at some level because Sasuke did not do it in the real world and Kyūbi was already greatly suppressed by being sealed inside Naruto. But to be sincere, my main reason for marginalising this is that I see no need in making the regular Sharingan or Sasuke even stronger then they already are.

The other known ability of Madara's is a space-time ninjutsu akin to Namikaze Minato's Hiraishin no Jutsu that allowed him to teleport freely and over huge distances. Whether or not his ability to partially phase in and out of existence is a part of this technique is up for debate but I find the two performances a little too different from each other. At the beginning of chapter 397, Madara was caught off guard by an Amaterasu Itachi implanted in Sasuke but he somehow managed to get rid of the inextinguishable flames when he stumbled back into darkness. I see only two possible explanations for this: either he was able to seal the flames like Jiraiya once did or he used another Mangekyō technique, which would be very similar to, if not the same as, Kakashi's Kamui. The possibility of a powerful Suiton jutsu is even more ridiculous than a fairy-tale.

Madara's eternal Mangekyō is named that way for two reasons. One is a confirmed fact and the other is probably just my own explanation. I will start with the reason I think I invented. I think Madara's Mangekyō is "eternal" because it granted him longevity that looks like immortality in the eyes of regular mortals. I somehow do not want to accept Madara being immortal. Hidan is immortal and Kakuzu found a way to regularly cheat death. Just because Madara decided to pluck his brothers eyes out in a fit of despair (or received them as a gift from his willing brother, depending on which tale You want to believe), that should not be enough to make him immortal. Of course, the probability of being a possessor of the Mangekyō and having a brother with the same gift is as small Tsunade's chances at winning a game of Old Maid but I still do not want to accept it. Madara simply acquired longevity in my book and that is my final word. Another reason for my disbelief is that Itachi wanted to pluck Sasuke's eyes out before they became Mangekyō and it could not be that easy either.

The confirmed reason for why Madara's Mangekyō is called "eternal" is closely connected with the only known weakness of it. The weakness is that once a person obtains the Mangekyō, he or she will inevitably begin a descent into eternal darkness – that is a fancy way of saying "they will go blind". This process is sped up exponentially every time a Mangekyō technique is used. It is a powerful tool that comes at a terrible price. Elite shinobi or those who were born blind should be able to eventually offset this handicap a little bit but if You pit together a blind shinobi and a healthy shinobi who is not stupid and knows how to take advantage of an enemy's weakness, the winner is clear. Well then, Madara found a way around this when he obtained Izuna's eyes. He did not do it knowing that he would find a source of eternal light, meaning that using his Mangekyō would no longer make him go blind, he simply wanted to see again. This is a good time to say that I think that Izuna was behind Madara in every aspect because once he found out about its weakness, he probably decided to use his Mangekyō less.

This is the "final secret" of the Sharingan Itachi mentioned in chapter 385 and elaborated upon in chapter 386. It is that You can obtain immeasurable power, including the ability to tame Kyūbi, avoid blindness for as long as You live and indeed live longer than Your fellow men ever could at the mere price of first killing someone very close to You, having Your brother do the same and then stealing his eyes. I still say that someone from Your immediate family – sister, mother or father – would do just as well but the problem is that it happened only once and will probably never happen again.

The last thing I need to discuss is the last of Itachi's cryptic messages. When he confronted Sasuke after he massacred the whole clan, he told him to go to the secret temple of Nakano shrine to discover the "true purpose" of the Sharingan. The word "purpose" is very vague. What is the purpose of any kekkei genkai? Well, there is of course the evolutionary purpose in Nature's Grand Scheme but is there really another purpose, a purpose justifiable in the world of Men? I think I am going overboard with this philosophising. I think the answer to this question is simply that "true purpose" and "final secret" are synonymous here. Being in possession of a kekkei genkai means that it should be used to the fullest of its capacity and in the case of the Sharingan, it is to do those horrible things mentioned above.

I think this is all I have to say on the matter of the Mangekyō Sharingan. I realise that a good part of this was just discussing and rehashing facts but I hope You will forgive me. I could have gone further by trying to invent Madara, Izuna and Sasuke's unknown techniques but I decided to leave that up to writers of real fan-fiction.

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**Piece It Together:**

**Well, there You have it folks, my longest chapter so far. I think You expect me write the next chapter on the Byakugan but that will not happen. There is absolutely nothing left to speculate about with that dōjutsu. Instead, You can look forward to one of these topics: the Bijū (that was one of the first topics I had in mind when I started writing this journal), souls (Edo Tensei, Shintenshin, Pain's abilities, there is a lot to explain) or Naruto's seal (Yin and Yang chakra, Shinigami, ties closely into the matter of souls).**

**Stay on the safe side!**


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